


Faking the Faking So They Don't Know You're Faking

by astradanvers



Series: Supercat Week [5]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Day Four, F/F, Fake Dating, Supercat Week, This is late, also alex and cat, i love alex and carter friendship okay, supercat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-02
Updated: 2016-02-17
Packaged: 2018-05-11 02:37:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 26,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5610757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astradanvers/pseuds/astradanvers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cat helps Kara out when her mom calls and wants to set her up on another blind date, a week later Eliza comes to visit and wants to meet Kara’s mysterious girlfriend. What happens when Kara and Cat have to fake a relationship? And how will Carter and Alex help?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Author’s not is first this time because clearly we are already on day six of supercat week, meaning I am behind. That said I blame this fic, completely and entirely. It was supposed to be small, 10,000+ words, 26 pages and 3 days later, I’m finally done. I hope you guys enjoy at least and don’t think it bounces from thing to thing too much, there actually ended up being more going on here than I planned.

Kara paces the balcony off of Cat’s office, the two of them were working late when her phone rang and she’d moved outside to answer it. “No, Eliza,” Kara says, “no I’m not working too hard. I’m home right now, relaxing.” She’s just turned to face the door leading into Cat’s office and finds the other woman leaning in the doorway, watching her. “No, Mom,” she says suddenly and sharply, “I am not going on another blind date. I don’t need a man in my life right now. There are enough complications in my life.” Cat’s eyebrow rises as she watches Kara continue to pace after a moment, “No, Mother, you are not setting me up again. Go play in Alex’s life for once. All Alex has to hide is her job, not a completely different identity.” 

The conversation is progressing in much the same manner when Cat slips up behind Kara, hand slipping around her waist, which shocks Kara but not as much as it should, they do touchy way too well. “Baby, come back to bed,” she says in a sleepy whisper and Kara glances over at her wondering both how Cat can sound like that when she’s clearly wide awake, then she remembers the other woman’s ability to go from awake to asleep in minutes and doesn't find it so strange, and why she’s doing it at all in the first place.

“Yes, Mom, that was a woman’s voice.” Kara listens for a moment, “Yeah, Mom, goodnight. Love you too.” When Kara finally ends the call she turns to Cat, “What was that?”

Cat grins, “It got your mom off the phone, didn’t it? Now come on, we’ve still got work to do.” Kara says nothing and instead turns to follow her boss back into the office.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara races into the office, hot latte in one hand and tablet pulled close to her chest with the other one. “Kiera!” Cat’s voice is already ringing out before she even reaches her desk. She races into Cat’s office, “Where have you been, Kiera? I’ve been calling you for the last ten minutes.”

“I’m sorry, Ms. Grant,” Kara says, rushing forward and placing a hot latte in her boss’ hand. “There was a family emergency.”

“I hope everything is okay,” Cat says with a raised eyebrow and masked concern.

“My mother is coming to visit,” Kara says tiredly, “she wants to meet the woman I’ve apparently been dating.”

Cat’s head snaps up, “The woman - oh, oh.”

Kara nods, “Yes, oh. She wants to meet you tomorrow at dinner.”

“You can’t - you don’t - we can’t -” Kara grins, it’s kind of fun to see her boss at a loss for words for once. “Kara, I can’t go to dinner with your mother.”

“Oh you can,” Kara says, “and you are because I am not going to face my mother after that little stunt you pulled last week without a girlfriend to show for it.”

Cat studies the young woman before her, “I can’t decide if I like this side of you or not, Kara.”

“I dare say you like it, Ms. Grant, seeing as you’ve called me Kara since I started behaving this way.” Kara grins, “My apartment tomorrow at seven, bring Carter if he’s not with his father, Alex will be there.”

“Alex hates me.”

“Does not, she just doesn’t understand how you can be my boss and my friend and not sell me out as Supergirl while running a newspaper. She’s very morbid about the world.”

“And you’re very naive about it.”

“So we’ve established. Now please tell me you’ll do this so I don’t have to tell Eliza that I had a one night stand or something like that.”

Glaring slightly Cat studies Kara, “Fine I’ll do it but we have to have ground rules first,” Kara sighs, that was easier than she expected, “come over to my place tonight and we can tell Carter what’s going on, especially if he’s to be a part of the ruse, and hash out the details.”

“That I can do. Chinese or you want me to cook?”

“I have no food in my house so Chinese. And not from that place you got it from last time, that rice was suspect.”

Kara grins, “Yes ma’am.”

“Good, now can we please get to work.”

“Of course, Ms. Grant,” Kara says moving out of the office and back to her own desk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara knocks at the door of Cat’s apartment that night, bag of Chinese food in one hand and a couple of books in the other that she’s sure Carter will love. Carter is the one who swings the door open with pursed lips and an unpleasant expression on his face, “What’s wrong?” Kara questions instantly, almost as intune with the boy’s emotions as she is with his mother’s.

“Dad,” is all he says and Kara sighs, “Mom’s on the phone with him now.” Kara wraps an arm around Carter’s shoulders, squeezes him in a side hug, his father’s been causing a disturbance lately in the two Grants’ lives, claiming to want more visitation when he hardly shows up for what he already has.

“Come on then, help me set the table.”

Carter nods and the two of them move into the kitchen, “Kara,” Carter says quietly, “would you date my mom?”

Kara falters for a moment in her movements, wondering if Cat had mentioned the situation with her mother to him already, “Why do you ask?” she hedges before giving an answer.

“You make her smile,” he says simply, “and you don’t try to take her away from me. You spend time with both of us, not just her. You include me, she’s never dated someone like that. A few would try, to start with, but in the end all they really wanted was to say they dated Cat Grant.” He looks away from Kara slightly, “She’s more than just her name.”

Moving forward Kara tilts the boy’s head up, “I know she’s more than just her name, Carter, and to answer your question, yes. If I was given the opportunity I would definitely date your mother and none of this,” she motions to their surroundings, “would change. You are your mother’s number one priority, as it should be, and I would never change that. I would also never date your mother for just her name. But I don’t think your mom would agree to date me.”

Carter nods but says nothing else on the matter, instead returning to his job of setting the table while Kara sets out takeout containers. “Should we wait for Mom?”

Kara glances down the hall to Cat’s home office, tunes her super hearing in and hears sniffling, “You go ahead and I’ll go check on your mom.”

The boy nods and Kara watches him settle at the table and begin helping his plate before she heads down the hall, knocking lightly on the open doorframe. Cat’s head snaps up but she doesn’t try to wipe away her tears, though she sags back into the chair when she sees it’s Kara. In her home Cat is a completely different person from when she’s in her office, though she’s still Cat. Kara moves towards Cat, kneeling down by her chair instead of staying on the opposite side of the desk, “He wants full custody.”

“What?” Kara questions instantly, “He doesn’t -” but she stops herself, she shouldn’t comment on things she doesn’t know a great deal about.

“He doesn’t show up for his regularly scheduled visits, he misses birthdays and Christmas, when Carter calls him he rarely answers but he thinks he’ll be a better parent because he’s home all the time. He’s home all the time because he doesn’t work.” Cat drops her head into her hands, “I will not lose my son. Not again.”

Kara nods, “I’ll call David in the morning, have him begin working on the countermotion he is sure to need to file.”

“Kara, what if -”

“Nope, no what ifs, you just said it, Cat, you aren’t going to lose him. I’ll be here for you and for him, whatever the two of you need. We’ll get through it.” Slowly Cat nods, though she doesn’t believe that Kara will stick to that, no one ever sticks around for her, “Come on, Carter’s waiting and your dinner is getting cold.”

“I’ll just go clean up a bit.”

Kara nods and stands, motioning for Cat to walk by her as she does the same. She grabs Cat’s hand just before the older woman has passed her completely, “He’s going to ask when I get back to the kitchen.”

Cat nods, “Tell him we’ll talk about it when I get in there.” A nod is the response she receives, “And, Kara,” Cat says, turning back in the doorway, “thank you.”

“Of course, Cat,” Kara says quietly before moving down the hall and back into the kitchen.

Carter’s head snaps up instantly, “Is everything okay?”

Kara squeezes his shoulder as she passes to slide into the chair she normally claims as her own, “Your mom will talk to you when she gets here.” He nods morosely and Kara knows he knows. Subconsciously Kara reaches out to the Chinese containers and begins helping not only her plate but Cat’s as well. She sees Cat when the other woman enters the room and tries to smile encouragingly but she knows she fails. Already she’s calculating though, Cat’s planners for the past three years are stored in a drawer in her desk at work, each planner has every visit that Carter’s father ever missed. There’s also lists of guests from every birthday and Christmas party that he never attended. Kara is nothing if not an efficient assistant.

For long moments after Cat settles at the table they’re all quiet, Kara lost in her own thoughts, Cat steeling herself and Carter preparing for what is about to come. “Carter,” Cat finally says quietly, “I have never lied to you and I am not going to start now.” Carter nods slightly, “Your father is trying to take full custody.”

“He can’t though, right?”

“He can if the courts say he can,” Cat says quietly, “but I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that he doesn’t.”

Slowly Carter nods, “You can do it, Mom,” he tells her, “you can do anything.”

Cat smiles at her son, hoping that his words prove true, Kara is watching Carter though and she sees it in him then, that same hero worship he has for Supergirl is directed at his mother. Supergirl may be his hero but so is Cat Grant. “I promise I will tell you everything that I can about what is going on,” she tells him honestly.

“I know, Mom,” Carter says quietly.

The silence surrounds them again and for the first time Kara realizes how much she loves the idle chatter that surrounds the Grant dinner table when they’re all together. “There’s one more thing, Carter, tom -”

Kara reaches out then, places a hand on Cat’s arm, “It’s fine,” she says quietly, “I’ll take care of it. You should be here with Carter.”

“No,” Cat says firmly, “I started this and I’ll see it through. Besides, I think he and I both will enjoy it.”

“If you’re sure,” Kara says carefully.

“Positive,” Cat says firmly then turns back to her son. “About a week ago, Kara and I were working late and her mom kept trying to set her up so I said some things that led her mom to believe that Kara and I were dating,” Carter raises an eyebrow, in a perfect imitation of Cat, as if to ask where this is going. “Her mom -”

“Eliza,” Kara supplies.

“Eliza is coming in to visit and wants to have dinner with all of us tomorrow. Alex will be there as well.”

Carter grins, “So basically we’ll be doing exactly what we’re doing now, except with two more people and possibly board game night after.”

Cat and Kara both stop for a minute, glance at one another then nod, “Basically,” Cat finally says. With that the three of them return to eating. When they’re all finished, though still with hardly any talk between them, Carter hugs Kara and then his mother, holding on just a bit tighter and longer, before trooping down the hall to shower and head to bed.

A while after he’s headed to bed Cat and Kara are sitting at opposite ends of the couch in the living room, each staring unseeingly at the tv screen across from them. “I should go,” Kara says after a while. “Let you get some sleep.”

“We still haven’t talked ground rules,” Cat says. 

 

“I still think you and Carter should stay here.”

Cat shakes her head, “He needs to be near you,” she looks away, “so do I.” Kara doesn’t respond simply nods, “I was thinking that the rule would be random touches are fine, so are forehead and cheek kisses, you do all that anyway,” Kara blushes, she really hadn’t known Cat knew about the kisses she’d placed on the older woman’s cheek or head when they’d been working late and Cat had finally passed out from exhaustion. “As for actual kisses I thought we’d dictate that based on need.”

“So really no ground rules at all, just wing it.”

The older woman shrugs, “You do seem to be good at that type of thing, Supergirl.”

Kara chuckles, “I guess we’ll see how good tomorrow, won’t we?”

“I suppose we will,” Cat says with a grin before the two of them lapse into silence once more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next night Kara is rushing around her apartment in mild panic when a knock sounds on her door, “Deep breath, Kara, it’s just dinner like any other night.”

Pulling the door open she lets out a breath when Carter rushes into her arms, “Kara,” he says happily, looking up at her. “We brought Catch Phrase, Charades and a deck of cards.”

Kara can only laugh as he runs further into her apartment with the bag of games in hand and throws himself onto the couch beside the kitten she’d gotten a few weeks back, “When did you get that cat again, because I swear it’s grown a lot since we were last here?”

“Mmmm,” Kara turns to look at her boss a grin on her face, “three years ago and she’s still very tiny.”

Cat glares at her but her lips are twitching in a slight grin, “You’re bad at that,” she says, “don’t try it again.”

Kara follows Cat into her kitchen, after hanging up her coat by the door, and watches as the older woman lifts the knife she herself had been using to chop up the last part of the salad and takes over. Watching for a few long moments she notices that the mushrooms have become so tiny she doubts anyone will even know they’re in the salad, “Hey,” she says, slipping up behind Cat and sliding her hands around her waist, stilling her still chopping hand, “what’s wrong?”

“Why didn’t you tell me about the planners?” Cat demands, turning in Kara’s embrace without attempting to move from the younger woman’s arms.

“Because I’d hoped that you would never need them.”

“He’ll protest you tampered with them after he did this,” Cat says quietly even while resting her head against Kara’s shoulder, wondering when she got so comfortable accepting comfort from the younger woman.

“Can’t,” Kara says quietly, her brain slightly short circuiting before she begins to run her hands up and down Cat’s back, “I had them sealed and dated by legal on the first of each new year. There’s no way they could think I’d have doctored them three years back just in case this ever happened.”

“You really do think of everything, don’t you?” Cat says looking up at her assistant. 

“I try to,” she pulls back slightly, “you do know my mom isn’t here yet.”

Cat shrugs, “This isn’t something that wouldn’t happen on a regular night when Carter and I are here or you come to my place.”

Kara tilts her head, knowing the other woman is right but refusing to admit it. Before she can say a word however there’s another knock at the door. She moves to it quickly and pulls it open, finding Alex on the other side, a new cut above her eyebrow, “What happened?” she questions, tilting her sister’s head to the side as she steps inside.

“Rogue prisoner,” she says quietly after glancing around to find Cat and Carter already there, “took nearly all of us to bring him down.”

“Why didn’t you call?”

Alex glances back to the kitchen, “I knew you were busy getting dinner ready.” She looks at Cat in her sister’s kitchen, dressed down in jeans, designer of course, and a dark blue shirt she swears is awfully familiar. “She looks very comfortable in your kitchen.”

Kara snorts, “She should, we eat here at least once a week.” Alex raises a single eyebrow, “Carter likes Mittens.”

“Why did you ever name that cat that?”

“I didn’t,” Kara says with a small smile but not divulging who did. “Hey, Carter, look who’s here.” Carter’s head snaps up and he grins, “He needs help with his science fair project, please help, Cat and I both are really bad at science. We suggested a volcano and I thought he was going to short circuit.”

“He’s far too good for just a volcano, Kara,” Alex says seconds before the wind is knocked out of her by Carter. “Hey, kid, what are you up to?”

“Not much,” he says grinning up at her, “but I need your help with something, if you don’t mind.”

Alex grins, “Not a bit, just let me say hello to your mom and I’ll be right over.” She makes her way over to the counter, smiling as she says, “Hello, Tiny Cat.”

“I have a knife, Alex Danvers, and I am not afraid to use it.”

“I can disarm you in two point five so I’m not very worried,” she pauses, “Tiny Cat.”

Cat points the knife at her, “One day, Danvers, we are going to test your theory.”

“But hopefully not with real knives,” Kara says, reaching out to lower Cat’s hand, “and hopefully not in my kitchen right before Eliza gets here.”

Both Alex and Cat laugh before Alex turns and heads into the living room, settling onto the couch beside Carter and allowing the kitten to climb over into her lap, “You actually like my sister, don’t you?” Kara questions quietly as she wraps her arms back around Cat, unconscious of her actions but not at the same time.

“You’re very touchy tonight,” Cat remarks dryly.

“You’re avoiding the question and I’m trying to get into character for when Mom gets here.” Kara tries to look innocent when Cat glances over her shoulder but she’s sure she fails miserably. Before Cat can respond though there’s another knock at the door, “I’ll get it,” she says, unraveling her arms from around Cat and walking over to the door. “Eliza,” she chimes happily when she pulls the door open.

“Kara, darling, how are you?” Eliza says just as excitedly, throwing her arms around Kara.

“I’m good, Eliza,” Kara says quietly, “Come in, come in.” She steps out of the way, allowing Eliza to roll her suitcase into the apartment behind her, “I’ve got some people I’d like you to meet and Alex is already here as well.” As Eliza slips into the apartment her eyes are instantly drawn to her other daughter who seems to be lost in conversation with a young boy over something on the couch, “Alex, Eliza’s here. Can you pull yourself away from whatever plans you and Carter are concocting for his project?”

Alex looks up and smiles seeing her mother already in the apartment though she’d never even heard the knock at the door. “Sorry,” she mutters, “hey, Mom,” she says moving over to hug her mother to her.

Carter rushes over and wraps his arms around Kara, “Alex is going to help me to build a spectrophotometer.”

Kara looks down at him, “Yeah, I’ve got no idea what that is, kid. Alex is the sciencey one, you know that, not me.”

Carter laughs, “Yeah Mom won’t have any idea what it is either.”

“Mom won’t have any idea about what?” Cat asks coming up to wrap one arm around Carter’s shoulders and the other around Kara’s waist. 

“A spectrophotometer.”

Cat laughs, “Yep, I’ve got no idea.”

Kara smiles at the two of them, “Carter, Cat, this is my foster mom, Eliza. Eliza, this is my girlfriend, Cat, and her son, Carter.”

“Nice to meet you both,” Eliza says smiling at the three people before her.

“Nice to meet you as well,” Cat replies, taking the other woman’s hand. Her smile is genuine and true, as if she really is glad to be meeting the other woman and as if she truly belongs in her assistant’s apartment.

Carter smiles up at Eliza as well and holds out his own hand, once his mother has let go, “It’s nice to meet you too, Ms. Danvers.”

Eliza smiles at the both of them, “Why don’t both of you call me Eliza, dears,” she says with a chuckle.

“Eliza,” Cat says with a smile, “I do believe dinner is nearly ready but we did leave Kara in charge so it may need more time.”

Kara bumps Cat’s hip with her own, “I can cook very well, thank you.”

“If you order take out,” Alex says with a snort before she and Carter collapse into laughter before rushing back toward the couch when Kara turns to slap at both of them.

Eliza laughs, “I see those two still haven’t stopped acting like children,” she says when Kara rushes after Carter and Alex.

Cat chuckles, “I don’t think they ever will, well they haven’t as long as I’ve known them anyway.”

“How long have you known them?”

“Three years,” Cat says as she moves back into the kitchen, deducing from the laughter and whispers from the couch that she is left to complete dinner, possibly with Eliza’s help if the other woman sees fit.

“Ah so you are that Cat then?” Eliza asks with a small smile on her lips.

Turning slightly from the oven so that she can see Eliza, “If you mean Kara’s boss then yes, I’m afraid I am.” She turns to face Eliza fully after being sure that the lasagna in the oven is coming along well, “We never -”

“I suspected it was you long before I ever knew she was seeing anyone,” Eliza says, holding up a hand to keep Cat from rambling on, she never pictured Cat Grant to be someone who would ramble. “Kara is old enough to make her own choices, that much was pointed out the last time I was here to see my girls. But to me, Ms. Grant, it doesn’t matter who you are, if you hurt her there will be a shovel involved when I find you.” She glances over to the couch where Alex and Kara are tickling Carter, sending the boys into peals of laughter, “She loves that boy,” she says, “and she loves you,” Eliza says quietly, “but she’s lost so much in her life, I will not see anything else taken away from her.”

Watching Eliza carefully Cat takes a deep breath, “There is nothing that I would ever dream of taking from Kara,” she looks over to the same scene that Eliza is watching on the couch, “I want only to give her everything that I can.”

“You really do love her, don’t you?” Eliza questions quietly, staring intently at Cat, “I thought this was just some ruse to cover up another late night at the office but you really do love her.”

Cat smiles, “I really do,” she says and to Eliza she sounds sincere. Without another word Cat moves over to the couch and lowers herself into Kara’s lap, the younger woman’s arms wrap around her waist on instinct, a bit surprised at the move. “Your oven needs to be replaced, it’s cooking at half the heat it should be. We’ve got at least another ten minutes before dinner is ready.”

“Maybe you were right last night and we should have just done it at your place,” Kara says offhandedly and Cat smiles remembering that conversation. Eliza has settled into the armchair across from the couch and Carter has rested his head against Kara’s shoulder, his mother facing him and Alex, “I think that oven of yours cooks faster than Supergirl’s heat vision.”

Cat chuckles remembering that particular experiment and how much Kara and Carter pouted at her when she’d made them clean it up. Clearly though Kara didn’t want her mother to know that Cat and Carter knew she was Supergirl, “Maybe I’ll have to ask her about testing that theory.”

Carter looks up with a grin, “Can you ask her what happens to peeps when she hits them with heat vision too? I wanna know how her heat vision compares to microwaves.”

“Now there’s an experiment I can get behind,” Alex says with a high five to the boy.

“Do you all enjoy using Supergirl as some sort of random experiment?” Eliza asks, clearly displeased with the ideas they were discussing.

“Yes,” all four of the occupants on the couch say at once and then all collapse into giggles.

Kara pulls Cat more firmly into her lap and Cat drops her head to Kara’s shoulder, attempting to hide her laughter against Kara’s neck, “Eliza, it’s cool. We always ask politely and if Supergirl has any problems with the things we ask she just turns us down. Like last week when someone,” she glances at Alex, “wanted to see how cold Supergirl’s ice breath was.”

Alex smacks Kara’s arm over Carter’s body, “I did not.”

“You totally did,” Carter says with a chuckle, “you spent an hour arguing with her over why it was a good idea.”

“Alexandra!” Eliza says sharply, eyes trained on Alex.

“And that’s our cue,” Kara says quickly, standing up with Cat and standing the smaller woman on her feet before ushering her toward the kitchen, Carter following close behind them.

“That was mean,” Cat says with a grin when they’re far enough away from Eliza and Alex.

“I’m her younger sister, she’s been aggravating me about it for months and she deserved it.”

Cat lays a hand on Kara’s arm, “She has a good theory on why to do it. You just don’t agree with the fact that she wants to be the test dumby.” She tilts her head when Kara glares slightly, “I don’t agree with her either, Kara, but you should think about finding out just how that freeze breath of yours affects humans at some point.”

Kara tilts her head, questioningly, wondering exactly when Cat started to become her voice of reason in regards to all things Supergirl. “Maybe,” she finally says, “but I will not be allowing Alex to play the test dumby, as you put it.”

“Kara Danvers!” Eliza screeches across the room and Kara flinches, “What the hell is your sister talking about your aunt showing up?”

Dropping her head to Cat’s shoulder Kara mutters quietly, “I can’t believe she brought Astra into this, I’m going to kill her.” Before responding to her mother Kara turns to Carter, “Hey, bud, why don’t you take these,” she reaches into the cabinet over Cat’s shoulder and pulls down plates, “and set the table for me? There are glasses on the drying rack and silverware in that drawer by the fridge.”

“Okay, Kara,” he says and scampers off.

“Come with me,” Kara whispers against Cat’s ear, “the lasagna still has a few minutes and quite frankly if it burns we can order take out. I need you with me right now.”

Cat nods, squeezes Kara’s hand, “I’m with you,” she whispers while pressing a kiss against Kara’s lips quickly. “I’m always here if you need me.”

The two of them make their way quietly over to where Alex and Eliza are standing, fingers entwined as they both keep track of Carter out of the corner of their eye. “What does Alex mean that your aunt showed up?”

Kara glares at Alex, “Astra showed up a few weeks back with her husband and a bunch of cronies, the DEO and I are handling it.” Eliza glances at Cat, “She knows, Mom, so does Carter. Do you really think I’d be in a relationship with someone and not tell them who I truly am? She deserves to know every side of me, so does her son if I’m planning to be a part of his life for any length of time, and I am. I respect her enough to not keep secrets from her. Even if she was still just my boss I would have told her by now that I’m Supergirl. As it is she figured it out before I could tell her and that bothers me every day.”

Placing a hand on Kara’s arm, Cat squeezes lightly, “Calm down,” she commands quietly, so even Alex and Eliza can’t hear her, much less Carter. She watches Kara close her eyes and begin centering herself while she turns to Eliza, “I figured out Kara was Supergirl through a series of circumstances, we chose to tell Carter for many reasons, the least of which being that neither of us want to lie to him. So I know about Astra and I know about Non and I know about her cousin and I know about almost every aspect of Kara’s life because we trust one another.”

Eliza stares at Cat and Kara, mouth slightly open in shock while Alex simply stands behind her mother smirking. Cat sees her mouth, I knew all this wasn’t for show, and fights every urge insider her body not to stick her tongue out at the other woman. “Fine,” Eliza huffs, she glares at Kara, “but you should have told me.”

Everyone simply nods to her final statement and turns to head towards the table but something catches Cat’s attention and Kara’s hearing before either Alex or Eliza has noticed, the oven. Cat is about to call out to Carter but Kara is already at the boy’s side, her body shielding him just as the front glass of the oven explodes, scattering glass over Kara’s island counter and the floor. Pieces of it flying out to bounce off of Kara’s back as she keeps her arms and body wrapped around Carter, keeping as much of the glass away from his body as she can. When pieces of glass have finally stopped falling she slowly uncurls her arms from around the boy and begins to check him over, there’s a small cut on his cheek from a shard of glass that ricocheted off Kara’s shoulder and a small piece of glass in his hand from where he’d wrapped his arms around Kara’s waist and caught a piece that was still on her back but overall he’s okay and he’s safe. 

Cat moves to them quickly, her own eyes traveling over Carter, assessing for injuries just as Kara has, just as she does to Supergirl every time Kara returns straight to her and Carter. “I told you we should have done this at my place, at least my oven wouldn’t have exploded,” Cat grouses. Instead of responding because she knows how Cat is when she’s scared Kara pulls both Grants back into her arms and presses them both into her body.

“She really loves them, doesn’t she?” Eliza whispers to Alex from where they’re standing over by the couch. “I knew she loved Cat but she loves Carter too, doesn’t she?”

Alex nods, “More than even she realizes, I think,” Alex says honestly. “I’m gonna grab the first aid kit, that cut on Carter’s cheek is gonna need to be cleaned.

“Grab the tweezers too, Alex,” Kara calls after her, “there’s a piece of glass in his hand.”

Once Alex has doctored up Carter’s hand and Kara has calmed Cat’s own frazzled nerves down while Eliza swept up the glass in the floor, the lasagna, salad and bread have all been tossed in the trash, contaminated by fragments of glass and the five sit around the kitchen table. “Pizza,” Cat says finally, “it’s the only option that I can see.”

The others around the table grin and Alex and Kara high five, “One mushroom, ham and pepperoni and one pepperoni, ham and bacon?” Kara questions and receives a nod and a raised eyebrow from Cat. She grins, “Yes, I know, Kit Cat, you want a personal thin crust mushroom and spinach with light sauce, I haven’t completely lost it.”

“You also haven’t lost that nickname I told you to burn from your memory weeks ago.”

Kara leans over the back of Cat’s chair to drop a kiss on her lips, “That’s because you’re cute when you’re mad,” she says with a grin before moving away to find her phone. Leaving Cat behind with a goofy grin on her lips, “Hey, Carter, why don’t you set up whatever game you wanna play? We can eat while we play so you aren’t up too late and won’t sleep through the movies tomorrow.”

He nods just before Kara turns away, telling their order to the not so kind woman on the other end of the line. When she turns back around she grins at seeing Alex and Carter pushing each other back and forth in their chairs while Cat chastises them fondly, “I always thought Alex would make me a grandmother first,” Eliza says, having sometime ago slipped up behind Kara.

“Huh?” Kara grunts turning to face the older woman. “I’m not -”

“No, you aren’t but that boy over there,” she nods to the table where Carter and Alex are now making funny faces at Cat, determined to make the woman laugh while Cat steadfastly refuses to look at them, “you look at him the same way Jeremiah and I always looked at you, like you were our own. I hope you’ve always known that, that we, that I felt that way. It’s one of the reasons this Astra thing upset me so badly, I don’t want her to, to take you away from me.”

Kara smiles, “She couldn’t if she tried, Eliza, Mom.” She shakes her head, “I know I don’t call you that enough but you are, you’re the only Mom I really remember, the one who was there for all the later things in my life and while I have memories of my mother they are very different from the memories I have of you and Jeremiah.” An understanding passes between the two of them and Kara reaches out to hug Eliza tightly before they return to the table, “Ah so who’s the moderator since we’ve got an odd number?”

“Me,” Eliza says quickly, “you girls know I’m not any good at this.”

Kara laughs and Alex mutters, “Understatement.”

“I think it has more to do with those two,” Cat says pointing to Alex and Carter, “wanting to get beaten again.” A smirk resides on her face as Eliza looks at her questioningly, “Kara and I have beat them horribly every time we’ve played.”

“We’re getting better,” Carter protests.

“You are,” Kara says into her hand and Cat chuckles beside her.

Suddenly a napkin slaps her in the face, “Ooops,” Alex says laughing.The pizza arrives a few minutes later and Kara slips away to retrieve it, returning to the table to place a slice of the mushroom, ham and pepperoni pizza on Alex and Eliza’s plates while she and Carter get pepperoni, ham and bacon and Cat gets her own mushroom and spinach pizza.

For the next two hours the five of them are completely lost to the rest of the world, the only people that exist are those within Kara’s apartment and there’s no danger looming anywhere, legal or alien or any other. Cat and Kara have wiped the floor with Alex and Carter once again, the two of them having to take mere moments to decide how best to demonstrate something to the other while it often takes Alex or Carter the whole time. “Last round,” Cat says after glancing at her watch, “the two of us have to get home so you can get ready for tomorrow,” she tells Carter who nods.

Carter pulls a card from the top of the pile and frowns at it for a moment, “Okay,” he finally mutters out and begins a series of complicated movements that leave Alex staring at him confusedly while his mother, Kara and Eliza laugh at his movements which are rather ape like. Finally the timer buzzes and he flops into his chair, “Planet of the Apes,” he says with a sigh.

As Cat stands up from the table, snatching a card from the top of the pile as she goes, she grins when she turns it over looking at the words. The feral grin on her lips let's Alex and Carter know that they’ve lost and lets Kara know she had better get this one right or Cat might just kill her. “I’m ready,” she says and watches Eliza flip the timer over. Immediately she’s moving, holding up two fingers, the only two words Kara will need to know what the movie is. 

“Two words,” Kara says, receiving a nod from Cat, one finger replaces two, “first word,” Cat holds up her fingers close together, “small, tiny, little,” Kara finally settles on after receiving a nod from Cat. Two fingers fly up once more, “Second word,” Cat points to herself, “human,” a nod and a slice of her hand as if dividing something, “half human,” another nod while Cat’s lips form a fish face with her lips, “fish,” Cat nods, “half fish.” Kara rapidly processes the information she’s been given “The Little Mermaid,” she shouts and Cat throws herself at Kara in a tight hug.

“I wasn’t sure you’d be able to get that one.”

“Who wouldn't have gotten that one?” Kara asks quietly.

“Literally any of the rest of us at this table,” Carter supplies sassily.

“You are too much like your mother,” Kara tells him with a mock glare.

“But you love me,” he tells her grinning, and she doesn't deny it. A look comes over him then and Cat decides quickly she dreads whatever is coming next, “Can we stay here tonight?”

“Carter -” Cat starts.

“Alex and I can take the couch, Eliza can have the spare room and you and Kara can have Kara’s room. It's simple,” he tells her with a grin and Cat knows what he’s doing and she's not sure if she wants to kill him or thank him. Both, both is a good idea.

“Did you ask Kara if we could stay?”

“Umm,” Kara says and Cat looks down at her where she's still sitting in the younger woman’s lap, wondering how she got so comfortable there without even realizing it, “he may have asked a few hours ago and I may have told him if he could get you to agree it was cool. I would like to point out I actually expected him to ask though, like before he made everyone’s sleeping arrangements,” she gives Carter a pointed look and he ducks his head slightly.

Cat glances at Alex and Eliza, “I'm game,” Alex says, “I'm always up for sleepovers and I've got clothes in the spare room.”

Looking to Eliza, Cat sighs already seeing the other woman’s answer, she is so outnumbered by these Danvers women. She glances at her son and she’d swear if she didn't know his father was really a jerk that his other parent was the woman whose lap she's sitting in because he grins like Kara with Cat’s lips and eyes. “Okay,” she finally says with a sigh, “but you and Alex are not allowed to spend all night planning whatever this science project is you're cooking up, I'm sure Alex can come over later in the week and help you. Your father is supposed to pick you up for lunch and a movie at noon tomorrow.”

Carter moves forward, pressing a kiss to Cat’s cheek, “Thanks, Mom, and we won't.”

He heads down the hall and into the spare bedroom, “What's he after?” Alex questions.

“Pajamas,” Kara says simply while snaking her arms around Cat’s waist, forgetting, as she seems to be doing often tonight, that they aren't really dating, and placing a kiss behind Cat’s ear. “I need to clean up the table,” she mutters.

“Okay,” Cat says, even though her head has dropped to rest under Kara’s chin and the younger woman knows she's close to sleep already.

“That means I need to get up.”

“Mmmhmm.”

“And you should go put pajama on before you crash.” Cat nods against Kara’s chest and slowly extracts herself from Kara’s arms, “Your favorite pajamas are at Cat height in the closet.”

“I hate you,” Cat calls over her shoulder as she disappears into Kara’s room.

Kara’s grinning as she gets up and begins clearing everything on the table and counters away. “Pretending for Mom my ass,” Alex hisses when she moves into the kitchen to help Kara while Eliza moves to her suitcase and pulls it down the hall after being sure Carter has vacated the spare room in favor of the bathroom.

“That's all it is, Alex, I swear,” Kara promises.

“But the two of you are so touchy.”

“That's normal for us.”

“And the kisses?”

“Something we talked about last night and decided to just wing it. I don't think there's been any truly romantic ones, do you?”

“Well no, but the ones you guys have had are the ones of a couple that have been together for a while, not a couple pretending to date.” Alex studies her sister and realizes quite easily that Kara hasn't even thought about half the kisses she's shared with Cat she's just gone with it.

“I took my filter down,” Kara says quietly. “When I'm with Cat I put this filter up that keeps me from doing anything stupid,” she shrugs, “I just took it down tonight.”

Before Alex can respond Kara’s bedroom door opens and Cat pads out, feet bare, hair pulled up into a too small ponytail, face free of makeup (though she doesn't wear much to begin with) and dressed in one of Kara’s old, thread bare Harvard sweatshirts and yoga pants, also clearly Kara’s because they're too long and cover the smaller woman’s feet. Kara grins goofily at the sight of Cat in her clothes and Alex shakes her head, “I'm going to steal my clothes from Mom’s room and change in yours.”

“Okay,” Kara says distractedly as Cat has moved directly to her and shuffled her way into Kara’s embrace, she's cuddly when she's tired. “No one’s around now, you can quit pretending if you want.”

“Don't want,” Cat says by way of answer and places her head on Kara’s shoulder.

Kara presses a kiss against her forehead, “Okay, Kit Cat, why don't I go pull out the sofa bed and then as soon as Alex finishes up in our room we can head to bed.”

“Not sleepy.”

“Cat, you can lie to everyone but Supergirl and me.”

“Same person,” Cat mutters.

“When you're tired you get cuddly and you are the only person I know who can bounce from wide awake to sleeping on your feet in two point five seconds.” Cat just nuzzles further into Kara’s shoulder, “Come on, sit down while I fix the sofa bed.” Cat remains steadfastly where she's at, “Do I have to carry you?” 

A response neither comes but neither does movement so Kara leans down and scoops Cat up into her arms, “Put me down this instant,” Cat screeches.

“I told you what I was gonna do if you didn't wake up,” she says while depositing Cat into a chair. Afterwards she turns and easily pulls the sofa bed free of its confines, smiling at the fresh sheets she'd left on it last time at Cat’s insistence. When she turns back around Cat is curled into a ball in the armchair sound asleep and Mittens is making her way onto Cat’s side. “What am I gonna do with you?” she mutters to herself as she hears three doors open down the hall.

Carter runs in and spies his mother asleep in the chair, “How does she do that?” he questions Kara.

“That is something you and I will never know, bud,” she says quietly. She glances at him, notices the pillow under one arm and her cape in the other, “Got everything you need?” he nods. “Brushed your teeth?” another nod. “Washed your face?”

“Yes, Kara,” he groans, “you're almost as bad as Mom.”

Kara shrugs, “Your mom crashed on you, so you get me.”

He moves forward and hugs her, “You're just as great, Kara,” he says into her shoulder.

Smiling Kara presses a kiss to his forehead, “Alright into bed with you, remember what your mom said, no planning all night.”

“Yes ma'am,” he mock salutes then moves to his mother’s side, “Night, Mom,” he whispers pressing a kiss against her cheek.

“Night, Carter,” Cat mutters, kissing his cheek in return but never fully waking up.

Eliza returns from her room, moving to the sink and filling a glass of water, just as Kara knew she would. “Good night, baby,” she says while pressing a kiss to Kara's forehead. “Night, Carter,” she glances at Cat, “How is that comfortable?”

Kara and Carter shrug, each muttering their own good nights as Eliza heads down the hall, stopping next to Alex to bid her good night as well. Alex glances at the chair as she enters the room, “Again?”

“She never makes it to an actual bed,” Kara says, “at least this time she's in pajamas first, we've been working on that so she doesn't complain about how wrinkled her clothes are in the morning.”

Alex shakes her head, wondering if her sister hears half the things that come out of her mouth in regards to Cat Grant. She plants a kiss on Kara’s cheek, “Good night, Supergirl.”

“Night, Alex. Night, Carter,” Kara says as she scoops Cat and Mittens into her arms, the cat more than used to being carried with her human so she no longer digs her claws in, the other human won't drop them. Kara easily deposits Cat onto her side of the bed, realizing that in fact Cat does have a side in her bed, before quickly changing into her own pajamas and sliding into bed beside Cat. Instantly the older woman roles into Kara’s side, rests her head on Kara’s chest and throws an arm and a leg across her body, “Koala,” she mutters quietly, “that's what I'm gonna start calling you.” She presses a kiss to Cat’s forehead, “Good night, Kit Cat,” she says sleepily as she pulls Cat impossibly closer and slowly drifts off into her own sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning Cat’s phone wakes them from the nightstand, where she'd apparently plugged it into her spare charger. She reaches out for it blindly, “Hello.”

That’s how Kara knows it's her personal cell phone, not the work one that's probably been abandoned somewhere in her living room or kitchen. Family nights seem to be, whoa stop Kara they aren't family nights. Nights when she and Carter and Kara hang out seem to be the only time that Cat forgets all about her work phone. She’ll spend most of the afternoon after Carter leaves typing away at it until Kara takes it away and forces her to stop.

“This is the third time this month,” she snaps into the phone and Kara knows instantly who it is, “that you have called and canceled plans with him. Are you really going to put us through a full custody petition knowing that you haven't even seen him in two months? And that fact alone has nothing to do with Carter or I. Look I don't want to hear it but you had better call him and tell him yourself because I'm tired of doing your dirty work for you. No, call his cell. We stayed with a friend of mine last night when it got pretty late. His phone will be charged, I plugged it in before bed. Just call your son and talk to him. Explain to him why you aren't coming to get him...again, I don't need the explanations anymore.” She presses the end button violently and tosses her phone to the nightstand before turning in Kara’s embrace and burying her face against the younger woman’s neck. Kara feels the tears against her skin before really realizing that Cat is silently crying, though she's already tightened her embrace around the smaller woman and her chin rests on the top of Cat’s head.

She brings one hand up and begins to thread her fingers gently, lovingly through Cat’s golden curls. “I've got you,” she whispers quietly against the top of Cat’s head as she places a kiss there. “We’ll change plans for today-”

“But you and your mom and Alex-” Cat starts, tears still trailing down her cheeks which Kara reaches up to gently wipe away.

“Plans can be changed,” she says quietly, pressing her lips to Cat’s forehead. “You and Carter are gonna need me today.” As if on cue the bedroom door bursts open and a twelve year old boy dives into the small space between them, wiggling up the bed into both his mother’s and Kara’s embrace. Kara glances up to the doorway, finding Alex there, Close the door, she mouths and Alex nods, looking sadly at her sister and two people she's come to care about very much, before doing just that.

“Why is he trying to take me away when he won't even come see me?” Carter questions, ear pressed against his mother’s chest listening to her heartbeat. Cat’s crying again and though Carter isn't Kara knows he wants to. She takes both of them more fully into her arms and holds on just a little tighter but careful to ensure it's not too tight.

“I don't know, Carter,” Cat whispers quietly, “this is just something I don't have an answer to.” Carter nods, burrows closer to her but keeps Kara’s arms around him too. A determined look forms on Cat’s features, “He won't take you away though, Carter, I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that never happens.”

“What if that's not enough?” and it's one of the only times Kara has ever heard him question his mother’s abilities to, in his mind, move mountains.

“Then we’ll use Grandma’s power too.”

“She won't-”

“She will,” is all Cat says, cloudy look on her features but Kara knows she'd face whatever that cloudy look is to keep Carter. The three of them stay there for long moments, Kara and Cat holding onto Carter like he's something that at any moment might slip away. “Why don't you go get dressed and then we’ll decide what to do today?”

“But Kara -”

“My mom and Alex will understand, bud,” she tells him quietly, “you need me today, that's what matters.” Carter rolls over in the tangled embrace he's in and hugs Kara tightly, “I've got you, Carter,” she promises against his hair when she feels his tears against her skin just as she'd felt Cat’s. Cat places a kiss to the back of her son’s head and then Kara’s lips over his shoulder because she knows Carter is crying and she knows it's because for the first time someone besides her has chosen him first, it breaks her heart at the same time it makes her tingle with warmth for the other woman.

After long moments instead of freeing himself from the two women’s embrace, Carter burrows deeper and slowly falls back to sleep. Cat’s fingers brush idly through his curly hair, “You know this wasn't all pretend like we've pretended it was, right?” Cat says bluntly, as is her way, into the silence, “We can fool ourselves apparently but not everyone else.”

“Did we really even fool ourselves?”

“When did you figure out I wasn't pretending?” Cat questions.

“When you kissed me first,” Kara says with an easy, happy grin. “When did you figure out I wasn't either?”

Cat smiles, “When you pulled me into your arms while I mutilated mushrooms.” A small grin remains on her lips, “You hate mushrooms, but you bought them for a salad that you intended to eat.”

Kara grins, pressing a kiss against Carter’s forehead, “You and Carter like them in salads though.”

“You always put us first,” Cat says quietly, “why is that?”

“Because if Jeremiah and Alex and Eliza taught me anything in the twelve years I've been with them it's that family always comes first.” She smiles when Cat leans over Carter’s shoulder and kisses her again. “Why don't I go talk to Mom and Alex while you get ready and we let him sleep for a while longer?”

Cat nods and slowly extracts herself from the embrace of the other two, she waits though until Kara has extracted herself from Carter as well and then covers Carter with Supergirl’s red cape which Kara hadn't even noticed he'd brought with him. “He feels safe in that cape,” Cat says quietly. “He knows he's always safe when I'm around but since his father started all this, started not being there more than usual, he's been sleeping with your extra one because he feels even safer.”

Kara reaches out and pulls Cat into her arms, “You're both going to be safe,” she promises. She presses a kiss to Cat’s temple then leans down and kisses Cat properly for the first time, a smile on her lips, “I'm going to protect you as much as I'm able.” She turns Cat towards the closet, “Now shower and get dressed I have a plan for today.”

“Oh you do, do you?”

“I do,” Kara says as she drops a kiss on Cat’s sweatshirt covered shoulder. “But it hinges on everyone being appropriately dressed.” She glances down at Cat, “And as much as I love seeing you in my clothes, and I very much do, they are not appropriate clothes.”

Cat chuckles and pulls free of Kara’s arms, “Go make your plans, Supergirl, I'll wake the prince when I'm done in the shower and let him run through next.”

Kara nods as she watches Cat disappear into the bathroom and close the door. She grins slightly then glances at the bed, worry etching its way across her brow before she makes her way out of the room. In the living room Alex is camped out on the couch, already returned to its couch state instead of fold out, “How is he?”

“Sleeping,” Kara says quietly, wondering how it is her sister knows more about Carter than the boy’s own father probably does. “I hope you and Mom won't mind but I told them we'd do something together today.”

“Of course we will,” Alex says, “I thought maybe the zoo or the museum. Kids his age do like that stuff, right? It wasn't just me and you being me and you.”

Kara grins, she hadn't expected her sister to replan their whole day around Carter, “This kid, yeah, he loves things like that. He's actually a lot like you and I as kids.” She bumps her sister’s shoulder, “Thanks for this, I actually figured you and Mom could go ahead and continue with the day we had planned.”

“Not a chance,” Alex says with a grin. Kara grins once more and Alex raises an eyebrow, “You have a plan, what is it?”

“The museum observatory is having a special tonight because of the meteor flying over,” she blushes slightly, “I had already kind of made tentative plans to ditch you and Eliza after the movie and take Cat, she actually really likes that stuff too. But I can call the guy and get it rearranged for all of us.”

Alex shakes her head, “You two have never really been faking a relationship, have you? And what’s with the bouncing between Mom and Eliza, I feel like a yo-yo?”

Kara chuckles, “We were or we said we were but we really weren’t but neither of us knew that the other wasn’t.” Alex raises an eyebrow, “I really don’t know how else to explain it.” Kara shrugs, “As for the Eliza thing, I’m working on trying to call her mom more, I should have been all along. Sometimes though, I just get caught up and the Eliza slips out.”

“The two of you are dorks, I hope you know that,” Alex says once she’s fully processed what Kara’s just said. “I can understand that,” she says next, “you still have memories of your mom competing with memories of Mom, it has to be hard.”

“Sometimes,” Kara says, she glances down the hall, “but honestly it’s gotten a lot easier since Cat and Carter have been a big part of my life. I look at Carter and I understand how Mom could look at me from the very beginning and know I belonged as a part of our family.”

“Because he belongs too.”

Kara nods, “Because he belongs too.” She hears one of the doors down the hall open and smiles slightly when Carter stumbles out of her room, still wrapped up in her cape, “Hey, bud,” she says quietly when he falls onto the couch between her and Alex, his head landing on her shoulder, “feeling any better.” He shrugs his shoulders and closes his eyes. Kara’s heart breaks for him because he’s twelve and he’s mature for his age but there is no way in hell he should have to go through the things he’s going through now. “I think Aunt Alex has got some plans for us today,” she tells him quietly. “She mentioned something about the zoo and I was thinking after we could catch that meteor shower event at the museum observatory.”

Carter looks up at her, “Mom hates the zoo.”

“She doesn’t,” Kara whispers to him, “she just likes to pretend she does. Your mother actually loves the zoo.”

“How do you even know that?” Carter demands with a pout, “I don’t know that.”

A laugh slips past Kara’s lips, “I know for a fact that she has behind the scenes tours of some of the nurseries when she has a free few hours.”

“Kara!” Cat’s sharp voice rings out, “Are you giving away my secrets?”

Kara only grins up at her girlfriend, “Never,” she says with a fake innocent look.

“Liar,” Cat says, leaning down to kiss her, “but it’s okay, I was planning on taking him with me next week.”

“Ooooh I get to go too, right? I’ve been reading so much about them.”

“I don’t see why not,” Cat says with a smile. She moves towards the kitchen, opening up one of the cabinets and then glaring at Kara, “Do you have to move the coffee every time Carter and I leave for more than three days?”

Kara chuckles, “I forget, okay,” she says moving over to the kitchen after sending Carter shuffling down the hall to get a shower and get dressed, “besides it’s fun to watch you reach for things on high shelves,” Kara whispers against Cat’s ear, “especially in short shirts.”

“Hello,” Alex says from the couch, “yeah, still here,” she says when Kara turns to her, “and would either of you like to clarify exactly what it is all of you are going to see at the zoo next week?”

The two women by the coffee maker glance at one another, Cat shrugs and Kara grins, “An orphaned chimpanzee that one of the keepers has been raising. At the behind the scenes things you get to play with the baby and depending on if she likes you or not hold her. They’re trying to train her to work with their audiences.”

“You might as well make that four, Cat,” Alex says with a grin, “there’s no way in hell I’m missing this.”

Cat laughs, “Don’t worry, I had already planned on it. You are far too much like Kara or Kara is far too much like you for either of you to pass up this opportunity.” She leans into Kara’s side as the younger woman wraps an arm around her, “So what are we doing today?”

“Well Alex suggested the zoo or museum.”

“Because I figured kids Carter’s age like things like that.”

“Carter does, I’m not exactly sure about other twelve year olds,” Cat says with a tilt of her head and Kara can already see the wheels spinning of a new idea for the magazine or the website or some other form of media. Finally she shakes her head and Kara knows the idea is neither lost or forgotten, only filed away for later use, “So what did you two decide on?”

“Both,” Alex says with an evil grin, “zoo first and then the museum late afternoon and tonight for the meteor shower.”

“We are all going to be dead on our feet when we get home,” she looks over at Kara, “are my trainers still here? I went looking for them the other day at home and couldn’t find them.”

“If they’re here they’re in my closet or the hall closet, Carter and Alex’s things take over the spare room and it’s closet.”

“You two act like you’ve been together for years,” Alex finally says, exasperatedly from the couch, “how the hell have you not realized you were dating?”

That moment happens to be exactly when Eliza walks into the room, “I’m confused,” she says looking at Kara and Cat, who are still standing next to the coffee pot, Kara reaching easily into the cabinet beside them and grabbing mugs down, handing them to Cat. “Are the two of you not dating?”

“We are,” Cat says, “we just hadn’t realized we were.”

“But last week?”

“May have been a little bit of a fib to get you to stop hounding me about blind dates,” Kara says with a shy grin.

“So last night was supposed to be fake.”

“Supposed to be,” Cat says just as the coffee pot finishes. “I hate your coffee pot,” she tells Kara when she turns to pour herself a mug of coffee, “I don’t know why you won’t just let me buy a keurig.”

“Because you already have one,” Kara says.

Eliza leans over to Alex, “Are they sure they were pretending last night?”

“Oh they weren’t,” Alex says, “that’s the funny part, they were faking the faking so the other thought they were faking.”

“You girls make my head hurt,” Eliza says quietly. Then she smiles brightly and moves to the bar, “So what’s the plan for today?”

“Zoo, museum, meteor shower,” Kara says while handing Eliza a mug of coffee and Cat places one before Alex who grins at her. Kara grabs the last empty mug, moves to the fridge and fills it full of milk before popping it in the microwave. She listens for the shower in her room, nods and starts the timer. “Carter’s dad can’t make it so we had to rearrange plans a bit, I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not a bit,” Eliza says, “I look forward to spending more time with both he and Cat, actually. At some of my favorite places too.”

Just as the door to Kara’s bedroom opens the timer on the microwave goes off, and Kara reaches up grabbing the mug and dumping the packet of hot chocolate in her hand into it. “Hot Chocolate, Mr. Grant,” she says making the boy grin at her. “I do believe it’s my turn in the shower.”

“Not if I beat you,” Alex says, bounding off the couch, heading for her sister’s room which has the best shower.

She hasn’t even made it halfway to down the hall when Kara passes her, “Never race someone with super speed, Alex,” Kara says, laughing, “I thought you learned that when we were kids.”

“That’s cheating, Kara!” Alex shouts through the door even as she stomps down the hall to the guest bathroom.

Cat rests her head in her free hand, “I am dealing with three teenagers, I swear.”

Eliza laughs, “And we’re taking them to the zoo and the museum.”

A groan leaves Cat’s lips and she turns to Carter, “You are not to encourage those two.”

Carter grins at his mother innocently, “Would I do that, Mom?”

“We’re doomed,” Cat tells Eliza while shaking her head.

“But at least we have fun,” she leans over, “maybe even join in.”

Cat chuckles, “Wouldn’t be family if we didn’t.” She shakes her head, so much for fake relationships, she thinks as Carter and Eliza launch into a discussion that she barely follows before Kara returns, wrapping an arm around her. She sinks into the embrace and smiles, she’s right where she needs to be. Come what may, she and her family, because she and Carter have that now, have for a while though she’s only now realizing it, will face it together.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this took a lot longer than I originally planned but it may have spiraled out of control and ended up being 34 pages long and 15,284 words but who’s counting. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Feel free to tell me if you hate it because there have seriously been times I’ve hated it, right now may very well be one of them. Yeah, I’m just gonna stop now. 
> 
> Warning: This chapter contains mentions but no graphic descriptions of physical and sexual abuse, also stalking.

Cat and Carter had gone out to dinner and a movie just the two of them. Kara hadn't been bothered by it, she'd actually encouraged it because she needed a Danvers Sisters night and she wanted Cat and Carter to have as much time together as possible, with and without her involved. Even in her own mind the thoughts sounded morbid, like one of them was dying. She wasn't sure if that fact wouldn't be true if Carter’s father won his petition for full custody. The man was a jerk, Kara had known that since she met him the first time at one of Cat’s annual Christmas parties, the first and last one Kara had ever seen him attend and even then he had breezed in after his son had been taken home and breezed out five minutes later. It had been enough time to ruin Cat’s semi-good mood that night.

“Hey,” Alex says from her armchair across from the couch, “you're a thousand miles away, what's up?”

Kara sighs, this is why she'd wanted a night with her sister. Cat was strong, powerful, a force to be reckoned with but when it came to Carter she was easily breakable, Kara kept her together. It was a gift, never a burden as Cat continued to call it, that she would happily bare. Being the one to keep everything together left little time for her to lose it however and she desperately needed to vent, to rant, to rage about what Carter’s father was putting her family through.

She shakes her head slightly when she realizes she has yet to answer Alex’s question, “I'm going to tell you something and you can not tell another soul until I tell you otherwise.”

Alex sits up fully in her chair, “You're kinda scaring me, Kara.”

Kara places her still half full container of pot stickers on the table beside the couch and pulls her knees up to her chest, “Carter’s father has filed for full custody.”

“What?”

“He told Cat that day we went to the zoo and the museum. We've been trying to keep it quiet but he's making it more difficult everyday. Last week he leaked a phony photo of Cat with Maxwell Lord to Lois Lane, for someone who hates Cat she certainly keeps any scandal that could happen under wraps for her. When the photo floated across Lois’s desk at two in the morning her first call was to my cellphone.”

“What else has he got?”

“My first and most pressing thought, though I'm not sure if Cat’s considered it is Adam.” Kara knows that Alex knows exactly who Adam is, having vetted Cat herself when the older woman learned Supergirl's true identity. “Cat’s talked to him about all the reasons she didn't or couldn't fight harder for him when he was a toddler or even when he got older but it still doesn't change the fact that he was taken away from her. Carter’s father will use that.”

Kara realizes Alex’s hand is running across her shoulders at the same time she realizes she's crying and she turns her face into Alex’s shoulder, moving ever closer to her sister, “You haven't talked to anyone about this in a month and a half, Kara.”

Shaking her head, though she knows it's not a question Kara powers on, “He hasn't seen Carter in over three months now. Every time he makes plans with his son he calls at the last minute to cancel because something came up.” Kara burrows further into her sister’s embrace, “He's hurting my son, Alex, and I don't know how to stop it.”

Alex’s hands run soothingly over Kara’s back and the older girl is positive that her sister has no idea she just called Carter her son. “We’ll get through this, Kara,” Alex whispers, lips pressed against her sister's hair. “We are a family and family sticks together.”

“Family always comes first,” Kara says, her voice quivering and watery.

“Exactly,” Alex says, pulling her baby sister tighter against her. She knows how much Cat and Carter mean to Kara, what she had never counted on was how much they would mean to her. Cat is like another sister to her, the one she goes to for fashion advice and the occasional dressing down when she needs it after doing something so far beyond stupid she can't think. And Carter is the nephew she honestly never thought she'd have, he's interested in science and he loves to help her tinker with things. She rests her chin on top of Kara’s head, nothing is going to take Kara’s family from her.

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Kara is returning with Cat’s second latte of the morning when she stops short, seeing a man standing in Cat’s office, both he and her partner in very defensive postures. She adjusts the filter she keeps over her hearing just a bit, “I always knew you weren't anything but a fucking dyke. And I want to know what the fuck those papers mean when they say you and she are filing for full custody of my son.”

“He's my son you pompous windbag. You haven't seen him in over three months, you know he's grown almost a foot taller in that time. He won first place in the science fair thanks to his aunt-”

“Carter doesn't have an aunt!”

“My partner has a sister so in fact he does. He has an aunt and a woman who I'm sure in time he will see as a grandmother because for the first time someone is seeing him as a grandson. As to the petition we filed as a countermotion to your own, Kara and I are filing for custody of Carter just as you and Lisa-”

“Lydia.”

“Are.” Cat glares at him, “You are not married to Linda, she has no legal standing in Carter’s life, she's only met him once as far as I know and you've been dating her for two years. Kara has known Carter four years, she's been in his life more often than not, she cares about him and she loves him. Kara would lay down her life for my son, that is not something I'm sure even you can say.”

“There's no way you'll win this, Cat, not without a scandal. She's you assistant.”

“Actually she was promoted to the art department two years ago, she runs both jobs very well and no one bothers to ask why I've never hired a new assistant or why Kara works more often than not from her old desk even though she has one in the art department.” Cat advances on him, “And you aren't the only one who could turn this into a scandal, remember that,” Cat nearly growls at him.

“This is not the end of this discussion, Cat,” he says in retreat.

“Oh but it is because anything else you have to say to me can be said through my lawyer. You will not be allowed back in this building and Stan at my building has been notified that on the nights you come to pick up Carter, if you ever do, one of his men is to come upstairs to get him and bring him to you. I don't want to see you again until court. Goodbye,” she says firmly and then moves to the doors of the balcony, pulling them closed behind her.

Kara moves out from behind the pillar she'd fallen behind when she'd started crying at Cat’s vehement defense of her love for Carter. Her eyes meet those of Carter’s father, “She doesn't love you, you know that right?” he questions her when he's close enough, “She doesn't love anyone.”

“You don't even know her,” Kara spits at him, “she has the biggest heart of anyone I have ever met and more than anything else in this world she loves her son. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go and find the woman I love and see if I can mend whatever damage you've done.”

She pushes past him, maybe a bit too hard and follows the sound of soft crying all the way out to the balcony. Cat is curled into the corner of the patio couch, pulled into herself as tight as she can and shivering from the unusually cold winter air. Kara returns to the office for a moment, riffling through one of the draws of Cat’s desk and producing a blanket Cat would swear doesn't exist. Quickly she returns to where Cat is curled into her corner and picks her up easily in her arms. When she's settled back into the comfort of the far too expensive furniture she tucks the blanket in around Cat.

“How much did you hear?” Cat questions, her face pressed against Kara’s neck.

“Enough,” Kara returns, her hand running firmly but soothingly down Cat’s back. Cat tucks herself more firmly into the Kryptonian’s body, leaching body heat from the perpetually hot woman. “He’s not going to win this, Cat,” Kara whispers against the top of Cat’s hair, “I promise you he won’t.”

She wiggles a bit, digs her phone from her pocket, “What are you doing?”

“Shuffling your schedule around and mine, we’re going home.”

“I can’t just go home every time that pompous windbag decides he wants to rock the boat and explode things in my life.” Cat snuggles ever closer to Kara, who hasn’t stopped rearranging the schedule, steadfastly ignoring all of Cat’s words, “I put your name on the countermotion,” Cat says suddenly, “because you are his parent. You are his mother as much as I am. And you are far more of a parent to him than his father has ever been.”

“I don’t need to know why you did it, Cat,” Kara says and tries to pretend there aren’t tears at the corners of her eyes, “I’m just so very honored that you did. He is my son, since long before we started dating when my mother came to visit. But then we’ve been dating for far longer than that too.”

Cat chuckles, “Indeed we have.” She rests her head over Kara’s heart, listening to its steady beat, “Do you know when I knew we were dating? When I knew that all of the family game nights, family movie nights and dinners were really dates that neither one of us realized? When I realized that the nights we went out while Carter was with friends or his father were dates?”

“When?” Kara questions, her nose buried in blonde curls as she finishes rearranging both their schedules.

“One night I had a dinner that I absolutely had to be at, according to my mother at least. The babysitter was sick or some other nonsense so you offered to stay with Carter until I got home. We were already dating without dating, you spent more time with us than at your own apartment, Mittens was traveling back and forth between houses. I agreed without a second thought. You had wormed your way so far into my defenses that I didn’t even consider if I trusted you with my son, I just did.”

“That’s when you realized?”

Cat shakes her head, “No, I realized we were dating, that I loved you and that you loved Carter and I both when I got home that night. I expected you to be waiting up for me but you weren’t so I went looking, thinking maybe you had gone to bed in the guest room. I checked on Carter first, as I usually did and found you curled around him in his bed. There was cough medicine on his bedside table, a small thing of vapor rub and an empty mug of his favorite tea. He’d come home from school that day with the beginnings of a cold.” She looks up at Kara, “You’d sent him straight to bed, made him tea, force fed him cough syrup, because he’s notorious for hating medicines -”

“Wonder where that comes from.”

“And given him vapor rub to apply to his chest. He was used to me staying with him until he went to sleep when he was sick though. So you’d stretched out beside him, let him snuggle into your body like you were some kind of teddy bear, and believe me I know that’s what he does when he’s sick. And you stayed with him, all night. That’s when I knew we were dating, when I knew I was in love with you. That’s when I knew because you loved Carter as much as you loved me.”

Kara smiles her thousand watt smile and then pulls Cat back to her chest, trying to keep the older woman from freezing, they really should go inside, “Do you know when I knew?” she questions instead, feeling Cat shake her head. “We were away for that conference in Miami and Carter was with Alex. I knew how many people you trusted to keep Carter overnight but you barely hesitated when I said my sister could do it after your mother backed out. That night when you called him to check in you put the phone on speaker phone so I could hear too, didn’t think twice about it. The four of us spent over an hour on the phone that night. When we ended the call that night you said I love you, but not just to Carter. Your exact words were “Love you both. Stay safe.” You knew what my sister’s job was and you still trusted her to take care of Carter, to be there for him when neither one of us could.”

Leaning down Kara steals a kiss from the woman in her arms, “I love you,” Cat whispers as they part, “I love that you know exactly what I need before I do.”

Kara smiles, “I love you too, Cat.” She stands, slowly lowering Cat to her feet, draping the blanket around her shoulders, “Come on, let's go home. We’ll spend all day watching  _ Mythbusters _ and then go pick Carter up and grab some dinner, maybe a movie.”

“I hate that show.”

“Then why did you have every episode DVR-ed even before I moved in.”

Cat smirks, “Carter likes it.”

“So do you,” Kara whispers against Cat’s ear and scampers out of the office to collect her things.

She watches Cat head for the elevator and turns to head for the public ones, “With me,” Cat says without missing a beat. Kara smiles, ignoring the looks she’s receiving from everyone in the office and stops beside Cat, what she isn’t expecting is for Cat to reach out for her hand, tangling their fingers together. Kara lets herself be led into the elevator, her arm draping over Cat’s shoulder when the older woman moves into her side, “You are not some dirty little secret to be hidden in my closet, Kara. I will not allow whatever happens at CatCo, whatever happens with Carter’s father to ruin us.”

Kara kisses the top of Cat’s head, “It never could. And whatever happens with Carter’s father, Carter is my son, he has been since he looked at me the first time and told me he loved me, before that probably but that’s the first time it registered.”

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Alex listens to the phone ring in her ear, tapping her foot against the ground as she stares at the morning paper spread out on her counter. “Hello.”

“Mom,” Alex says instantly when she hears her mother’s voice, “I have a very important question to ask you.”

“Okay,” Eliza says, drawing out the world as she waits for her oldest daughter to ask her question.

Expecting something to do with dating advice or something lab related she is shocked when she hears the words, “If I was arrested for beating the crap out of someone, would you bail me out of jail?”

“What?” Eliza says instantly, “Alex, what are you talking about? Have you been arrested?”

“Not yet,” Alex says, lifting the paper from the counter and staring at a picture of her sister and Cat dancing at one of the local clubs. The article title reads, “Rumors Circle About the Queen of All Media’s Parenting Style.” Alex is seething, the article is in the  _ Daily Planet _ but Lois couldn’t fish it up from the dredges of hell before it went to print.

“Alex, what the hell is going on? You are scaring the hell out of me?” Alex glances over to her couch, watching her sister and best friend, both finally sleeping peacefully after a night of very little sleep.

“Have you seen the  _ Planet _ this morning?”

“No, why?”

“Grab it, check out the front page.”

Alex listens to the rustling on the other end of the line, “Oh my god. Who in the hell would do this? Was it Lois Lane?”

“No,” Alex says instantly, “she’s been keeping scandals out of the paper lately actually.” She pours herself a cup of coffee, phone held to her ear by her shoulder, “Cat’s ex is stirring up trouble.” The rest of the Supersquad, she hates the name but everyone else seems to like it, well except Cat, already knows about the custody petition but she’s not sure if Cat and Kara want Eliza to know yet or not so she’ll keep her mouth shut.

“Tell her,” Cat mutters as she walks up beside Alex, reaching up into the cabinet she knows the mugs are in and grabbing her favorite before pouring her own coffee and heading back to the couch to curl back around Kara who’s still sleeping.

The younger woman watches her silently, worried about her beyond measure, “Alex, what’s going on? Have I lost you?”

“No, no you haven’t lost me. Sorry, Mom, Cat was telling me something.”

“Cat’s with you?”

Alex sighs, Cat and Kara had come to her place yesterday morning immediately after going into work and having the paper thrown on Cat’s desk by James, they hadn’t left since and Carter had already been there having spent the night while his mother and Kara had a date night. A night now plastered across the pages of a newspaper for the world to see. “Yeah, all of the Grants are,” she doesn’t bother to distinguish Kara from Carter and Cat, they might as well all be Grants.

“Are they okay?”

“Not really,” Alex says honestly, a note of worry creeping into her voice when she sees Cat sink down into the couch behind Kara, arms circling the younger woman’s waist after abandoning her coffee mug on the coffee table and burying her nose in Kara’s hair. Without a word Alex slips out of the kitchen and down the hall, stepping into her home gym, she switches her phone over to her com as she slips it into her ear and places the phone on the table in the corner. “Carter’s father has filed for full custody.”

“What?” Eliza demands, “The asshole hasn’t even seen his son in months.”

“He hasn’t,” Alex says as she tapes her hands up, “but he thinks if he drags Cat’s name through enough mud he’s going to win automatically. So far he’s tried phony pictures of Cat with Maxwell Lord, there were a few rumors circulating about Cat having a drug problem, and now this.” Alex’s first few punches against the bag are hard, driven, “Kara thinks he’ll bring up Adam, I think he will too. I just don’t know what to do about it.”

“Have you thought about talking to Adam?” Eliza asks, ever the voice of reason.

Alex sighs, her punches to the bag becoming hard and more frequent, she knows her mother will hear her hands meeting hard leather, “Cat forbid me to contact him. I feel like at the very least we should warn him that something might be coming. But I’m helpless to do anything but honor Cat’s wishes.”

“Why? You’ve never let something like that keep you from doing what you thought needed to be done. Just like when Kara was twelve and wanted nothing more to fly. She needed it, you knew she did, so you went with her, ensured that she remained safe. What’s different now?”

“Cat is my best friend,” Alex says as clouds of dust begin to erupt from the bag she’s pulverising, “he’s treating her like shit. He’s trying to take my nephew away.” Alex can feel the bag hitting her fists harder as she hits it with more force, causing it to swing more, “Cat is so,” she glances to the door, never stopping her attack on the bag before her, “she’s so broken, Mom, Kara too. I don’t know what else to do but whatever they ask. I’m terrified for them, Mom.” The bag takes one strong swing back and comes back against Alex’s hand, the woman hitting it with all of her might, sending it careening on its hook and flying off, sliding halfway across the room. “I love them both so much, Mom, and I love Carter and I don’t know how to help. I want to go beat him to a fucking pulp but I know it won’t do any good, I know it will only make things worse.” She drops to her knees in the middle of the gym, “What do I do?”

“I don’t know,” Eliza says honestly, “I really don’t know, my darling.” Alex is crying, Eliza can tell just from the sound of her voice, “I’m coming out there,” she says suddenly. “You all need me and I’m not going to fuck it up by not being there. I’ll be there in a few hours.”

“Mom, that’s not why I called.”

“No, you called to rant and rage and have me listen to you beat the hell out of a bag while you broke down. I’ve done all that, and now I’m doing what I need to do which is be there for my family.”

“Family comes first,” Alex says quietly, it’s basically their family moto, always has been since long before her father died.

“Always,” Eliza says firmly. “Now I’ll call you when I have my flight lined up, will you pick me up?”

“Yeah,” Alex says distractedly having heard Carter moving around in the room next door, “yeah, I’ve taken a few days off. Henshaw is being very supportive and accommodating.” She hears a bang against the wall next door, “I gotta go, Mom.”

“I’ll call you,” Eliza promises before hanging up.

Alex knocks lightly against her guest room door, “Carter?”

“Go away, Aunt Alex,” Carter mutters from inside but Alex doesn’t listen instead turning the knob and pushing it open slightly. “Please,” Carter says, curled up on his bed, small squishy basket ball in his hand that he keeps bouncing off the wall.

“Come on,” Alex says instead of leaving him alone. “Get up,” she says when he doesn’t move, “now, Grant.” It’s like an instant reaction when he scrambles from the bed, “Leave the ball,” Alex commands, heading back to her home gym. Carter’s never been in there before and he’s surprised by what he finds. There’s a chin up bar, an elliptical, a treadmill, a stationary bike, yoga mats, exercise balls, three different leg exercise machines, a hook where a bag should be hanging and the bag on the floor half a room away, a set of weights and a weight bench. “This,” Alex says, “is my inner sanctum.” She smiles at his look of wonder, “If I’m having a bad day I work it out here. You’re welcome to use anything you want, all I ask is that you make sure it goes back wherever you got it from and you wipe it down with the spray over there in the corner, keeps the machines from messing up.”

Carter nods, “Can I use it now or are you gonna be in here?”

“I’m gonna be in here but you are welcome to join me. I’d actually enjoy the company, I work out alone far too often.”

“Cool,” he says, “let me go change.”

He disappears out of the room and comes back in shorts and a t-shirt, headphones wrapped around his neck and iPod in an armband on his upper arm. He settles a single headphone in his ear and heads directly for the treadmill, she smiles slightly knowing he loves to run. Alex moves over to her punching bag, lifts it up and carries it with only a little trouble back to its hook. When it’s hanging back where it belongs she begins to wail on it once more, the steady hum of the treadmill running and the faintest hint of Carter’s music drifting away from him. Her hands connect over and over again with the punching bag, each hit more forceful than the last, soon she’ll send it flying once more, she’s almost positive.

“Alex,” Kara says from the doorway, “Henshaw just called, there’s an emergency and he needs me. He said for you to stay.” She moves closer to her sister, “Please look after Cat.”

“Always,” Alex promises, unwrapping her hands, “I’m going out front with your mom, Carter, just shout if you need me.”

“Sure, Aunt Alex,” Carter says, pushing the brisk walk he’s been doing up to a light jog.

“Thanks for letting him in there. He probably needs a distraction.”

“He was throwing a rubber ball at my wall,” Alex says with a grin.

“I’ll -”

“It’s fine,” Alex says instantly, “it’s just a wall. He’ll run his frustrations out for today and be calm for at least a while. Likely tomorrow he’ll get up and do the same if he’s still here.Now if it was as easy to help you and Cat.” Alex runs a hand down her sister’s back, “Be careful today, okay, we need you back in one piece.”

“Always,” Kara promises, leaning down when she reaches the couch to drop a kiss on top of Cat’s head, “I love you,” she whispers, “I’ll be back soon.”

“Love you too. Be careful.” Alex sinks down onto the couch beside Cat as Kara steps out onto the balcony and rises into the sky. Cat lays her head over on Alex’s shoulder, “I’m terrified too,” Cat whispers and Alex closes her eyes, she hadn’t meant for Cat to hear any of that. “Don’t worry,” Cat says, still very quiet, “you only told Eliza the truth. If it was a lie I’d be pissed but it wasn’t anything but the truth, I can handle the truth. I’m going to lose him, aren’t I?’

“No,” Alex says firmly, “no matter what I have to do, Cat, I will make sure that you do not lose your son, I promise you.” Alex wraps her arm around Cat just the same as she would Kara, “I will do anything to make sure Carter stays where he belongs, with his family.”

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Cat stares at her lawyer, “What are you telling me, David?”

“They’ve rejected Kara’s claim,” David says carefully. “You are not married to Kara, the two of you have not been together for very long, so the judge has rejected Kara’s name from the petition.”

“Can he even do that?” Cat demands, “And what about Lisa?”

“Her name is Lydia, Cat, and she and Jonathan have been together for two and a half years.”

“Except they don’t live together, Kara and I do, have since almost the moment we went public with our relationship. Lydia has only met Carter once, Kara has been a part of Carter’s life for the past four years, a major part for the past three. But what you’re telling me is that because my partner and I are not married, because we have only recently made our relationship, that has been going on far longer, public her name cannot be listed on the petition for custody of a child she calls her own.”

David watches Cat quietly, he knows the signs of a woman about to lose it in rage and the signs of a woman about to collapse into brokenness, Cat appears to be both in this moment. “I’m sorry, Cat, but yes. Besides if she cares so much for Carter, where is she? Why is she not here with us?”

“She’s with our son at his dentist appointment,” Cat all but growls, disbelief in her eyes as she watches her lawyer, she’s trusted him and now he’s questioning her. “Her sister had to work and her mother doesn’t have a car in the city or know her way around and the nanny is sick. There was no one else we trusted to take Carter to the dentist so she chose to miss this meeting. As you know, David,” she continues, her voice quiet, threatening, “she has been with me to every meeting before now. She has held my hand through every damning bit of drivel you’ve given me about what Jonathan is putting my son through and now you are telling me that she has no right to call him hers because we’re not married. That is a load of bullshit.”

She stands from her seat, “Ms. Grant, there is nothing I can do.”

“Then perhaps it’s time that I find someone who can.” She’s in the elevator when the first tear falls down her cheek but she hurriedly wipes it away and keeps the others at bay until she’s in the confines of her car. “Take me to Alex’s,” she barks at the driver as she slides into the back, pulling her phone out and dialing Alex’s cellphone without a second thought, “I’m on my way over,” is all she says and hangs up.

When the car pulls up outside of Alex’s apartment building there are dried tear tracks on her cheeks and she's wrapped in a sweatshirt of Kara’s that had been abandoned in the car. The elevator ride up to Alex’s floor is too long, too silent and gives her far too much time to think. She doesn't bother knocking when she reaches the door, knowing it will have been left open, one of the many reasons she called ahead. She moves into the kitchen where she can hear movement after she's closed and locked the door. Alex is puttering around at the counter, fresh pot of coffee brewed and waiting. She'd been called in the middle of the night and had to stay past time for Carter’s appointment at nine but had promised to be home by the time Cat’s meeting with her lawyer started at eleven, prepared to offer whatever Cat needed by way of support when the older woman returned to Alex’s apartment. The apartment had turned into their home base since reporters from other news media had started camping outside of Cat’s building, hoping for interviews or pictures of the small family.

“Hey,” Alex says turning around and Cat knows by the way Alex’s faces scrunches up in concern that her appearance is as bad as she feared. “What did he say?”

“Kara’s petition has been rejected, our relationship isn't vetted enough for the judge.”

“What?”

“Because Kara and I are not married and because we haven't been ‘out’ for very long the judge rejected her petition for full custody. Mine is still there, Jonathan and Lisa’s is still there.” She covers her face with her hands, “Kara and I love one another, we love Carter. Lisa has met Carter once in the two years she and Jonathan have been together. They don't live in the same house, they've been together two years because neither minds when the other sleeps with someone else.”

“I thought I heard your voice,” Eliza says, walking over to Cat’s side running her hand soothingly over the woman’s shoulders as she would one of her own daughters. “It didn't go well.”

“No,” Cat says as she reaches for the coffee Alex has just set before her. The older Danvers sister has become almost as adept at making her coffee as the younger. “I'm sorry I'm unloading this on you,” she says quietly to Alex.

“Hey,” Alex says, rather sharply, “this is what I'm here for, Cat. You are family. Even if you weren't dating Kara, you and Carter would still be family. I am here to listen any time you need to talk.”

“Thank you,” Cat says, leaning her elbows on the counter and cradling her coffee mug in her hands.

“Tiny Cat,” Alex says suddenly and Cat knows it's to make her smile, which it does, “you and Kara have been dating for basically two years, you just failed to realize it.”

“So?”

“So what if you got married?” She tilts her head, “Could her name be added to the petition then?”

Cat shakes her head, “I don't know.” She runs runs a hand through her hair, “And that's not really how I wanted our marriage to start.” Alex raises an eyebrow, “I want to take her to Paris,” Cat says quietly, “after all this is over, after our family is safe. I want to take her to Paris, she always talks about how she wants to go one day, and I want to ask her to marry me on the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower.”

Alex stares at Cat, “You are a closeted romantic.”

Eliza smacks her daughter’s shoulder, “Be nice.”

Except Cat is laughing, “No,” she tells Eliza, “she's right and she knew it'd make me laugh.” Cat hangs her head, “Is it bad that I still want that instead of having to get married just because a judge thinks that is what makes us a family?”

“No,” Eliza says, “you are a family, with or without a piece of paper that says you're married, you are a family.”

“Do you trust me?” Alex questions.

Cat stares at her, “Almost as much as I trust Supergirl.”

“Let me make a phone call, I know someone who might can help.”

Cat nods, “Do it, I have to find a new lawyer anyway.”

Alex moves away from the kitchen, phone already in hand while Eliza moves around, grabbing a mug to pour her own coffee, “You know Kara and Alex will make sure everything works out, right?”

“I don’t know if they can, Eliza,” Cat says quietly while resting her chin on her fist while she watches the other woman start on lunch.

“She’ll be here in fifteen minutes,” Alex says returning to slide onto the stool beside Cat.

Eliza watches them both, “One or both of you could help, you know?”

Alex chuckles, “Do you really want our help, Mom?”

“No, I just like to tease you.” Before she can say more the door to the apartment swings inward and Carter races in and over to his mother. He wraps his arms around her and presses a kiss to her cheek, “Hello, Carter,” Eliza says with a grin.

“Hey, Eliza,” he says and Cat knows something is wrong, can hear it in his voice. She tilts his head back, looking him in the eye and he frowns a bit then lets his head fall back to her shoulder without saying a word. Cat doesn’t ask, just presses a kiss to his forehead and rests her head on top of his, when he’s ready to talk he will.

“So what are you making?” Cat questions lightly, wondering where her partner is and what’s taking her so long to follow their son through the door. She glances up when she hears quiet footfalls near the door and turns slightly to look over. Instantly she notices that Kara has a split lip, mostly healed but split all the same. Carter lifts his head from his mother’s shoulder and lets her slide from her barstool, “What happened?” she demands as she reaches Kara, gently brushing a finger over the younger woman’s lip.

“It’s nothing,” Kara says firmly.

“Dad hit her,” Carter says when it’s clear to him that his other mother is not going to answer the question correctly.

“What?” Cat says instantly, tilting Kara’s head to the side taking in the still slightly bruised lip.

“I took Carter to get something to eat after we left the dentist, didn’t know everyone was gonna be here eating,” she says with a shrug. “Jonathan showed up as we were getting ready to leave.”

“What happened?”

Kara remains steadfastly quiet as she makes her way past Cat and over to the freezer, pulling an ice pack free and placing it on her lip, she may heal quickly but when things like busted lips are healing they still hurt. “He said some things,” Carter supplies when Kara still doesn’t speak, “Ma kept her cool, didn’t respond to him for a while. Then he made a particularly rude comment and Ma said some things and then Dad decked her. He left the cafe but the owner called the cops, Ma reported it.”

“What did he say?” Cat questions, her eyes on her lover and not her son who has been answering questions.

“Nothing,” Kara says firmly then looks at Carter. “Nothing,” she tells him and then moves to the balcony, “I’ve got a meeting with Hank in fifteen minutes. I should be home in about an hour. You gonna be here or home.”

“Probably here,” Cat says, “a friend of Alex’s is coming over to help me with my crappy morning.”

“Okay,” Kara says simply, stripping down to her super suit and flying out of Alex’s balcony doors.

Cat turns to her son, “What did Jonathan say, Carter?”

“Nothing,” Carter says, he hates lying to his mother but Kara doesn’t want her to know and Kara isn’t here to protect his mom when what his father said makes her break.

“Is she going after him?”

Carter shakes his head, “I doubt it,” he picks at a speck of dirt on his pants, “in the car she said he wasn’t worth it.”

“Is your Ma okay, Carter?” Cat asks quietly as she runs her fingers through his hair where he’s climbed up onto the barstool she was sitting on.

“No, I don’t think so. What Dad said,” he shakes his head, “what Jonathan said, it did a number on her. She was quiet the whole way home and fidgety, that hand thing you hate, she kept doing that.”

“Are you okay?” she asks him, just as quietly.

This time Carter meets her eyes when he shakes his head, “No, he,” he draws in a deep breath, “let's just say that one of the things he said makes me hate him. I’m not just disappointed in him anymore and I’m not just angry at him anymore, if I never saw him again,” he says, “it would be too soon.” He slides off the barstool, “I’m going to the gym,” he tells her, lifting a bag, she didn’t realize he’d dropped, from the floor and heading down the hallway to Alex’s home gym.

Alex must pass him in the hall because when she steps back into the kitchen she looks between Cat and her mother, “What the hell happened in the five minutes I was gone? And why is Carter so quiet?”

“His father,” Eliza says quietly, walking around the counter to stand in front of Cat, “What do you need us to do?”

Cat’s eyes turn to Alex, “Call Hank and make sure he has a meeting with Kara, please,” she begs and Alex nods, hands instantly moving on her phone. She turns back to Eliza, “I don’t even know what to do.” She shakes her head, “Alex, I’m stealing some of your workout clothes and going to the gym.”

Alex nods without speaking, still on the phone with someone at DEO, Cat assumes Hank. Cat’s been in Alex’s apartment enough times and borrowed enough clothes from the other woman after nights crashed on her couch that she knows where to find things in her room. She grabs a pair of yoga pants and a tank top, throwing them on before moving down to the room she knows Carter is already in, most likely running on the treadmill. Sure enough when she steps inside he’s running at what Cat thinks might be too fast on too much of an incline but she doesn’t say anything. Instead she moves to the cabinet by the door, grabs a roll of tape and begins taping her hands. She learned to box when she was fifteen because her mother hated it, she kept it up past that because she enjoyed the feel of it, the way the endorphins kicked up in her system. Plus it was a good work out and helped her stay in shape.

She’s throwing left hook after right hook at the bag when Alex comes to a stand still in the doorway, she’d let Cat into her inner sanctum over a year ago when the older woman had gone through a particularly nasty fight with her sister. Alex would like to say she regretted letting people into her gym but she never could because Cat and Carter get as much relief from the room as she does. She’s not sure it’s going to help with whatever Cat is dealing with in just a moment.

“What is it, Alex?” Cat asks without missing a punch, even adding a kick to the bag for good measure, “You’re hovering, you never hover.”

“Kara doesn’t have a meeting,” she says, “with Hank or anyone else at DEO. She hasn’t been called in either. I called James and Winn, neither of them have seen her.”

Cat breathes out a long breath but continues to pummel the punching bag before her, “She lied then, which means she’s not thinking clearly, which means I have no idea what exactly she’s planning.” She glances over at Alex, “Do you have Clark’s number?”

“Yeah,” Alex says.

“Call him, tell him we need him to come find his big cousin and get her head back on straight.” She continues to pound away at the bag, “Maybe I’ll just go beat the crap out of Jonathan myself.”

“What happened, Cat?”

“I’ll tell you when I get done destroying you punching bag,” Cat says, “please call Clark for me. Ask him if he’ll just come look for her. He doesn’t have to bring her back, she said she’d be home in an hour but I want to be sure she’s okay.”

“Okay,” Alex says nodding before backing away from the door. The way that the punching bag had been dangerously swinging on the hook she knows if Cat doesn’t put a hole in it she’ll at least send it flying across the room. Alex smirks, her want to recruit Cat for the DEO grows daily but she knows Kara would kill her. Her phone is pressed to her ear when she reenters her living room, “Hey, Clark...this isn’t social, sorry…well not really at least...we were kind of wondering if you could maybe do a quick sweep of National City, make sure Kara is okay...there’s been some stuff going on with Carter and Cat and it's hitting her pretty hard...Cat, we’re all a little worried...no, no, don’t try to bring her home, don’t even approach her if you don’t want to...just, just make sure she’s okay...thanks, Clark.”

“Is that Cat beating up the punching bag?” Eliza asks as each sound of skin connecting with leather travels to them.

“Yeah,” Alex says, rubbing at her eyes, “I’m worried about them.”

“Me too,” Eliza says honestly. “I’m worried about you too,” she says, reaching out to tilt Alex’s head up, “you’re taking all of this pretty hard and I know you haven’t been eating right.”

Alex shrugs, “I’ll eat when I’m not so stressed.” Just then a knock sounds at the door, “That’ll be Lucy,” she hops up from the bar and moves towards the door with a smile. When she pulls it open she’s met with Lucy and James, “Hey, guys,” she studies James, “how did you get away when Cat is already not there?”

“I just came to drop off these,” he says holding up a couple of layouts, “and Lucy.” He hands the layouts over to Alex, “Tell Cat to call me if she needs anything and please make sure my girl gets home safe.”

Alex laughs, “Maybe I’ll keep her instead.”

Lucy pushes James back through the door, “I’ll be fine, James, get back to work.” When they’re inside the apartment and James has headed off, Lucy hooks her arm through Alex’s, “You’re mean to him.”

“You aren’t his girl anymore,” Alex says with a scowl, “the two of you broke up months ago.”

“And you’re jealous,” Lucy says with a grin. “But this is not why I’m here. Where’s Cat?”

Just then a loud crash comes from down the hall, “I do believe she just broke my punching bag,” Alex says with a  groan, “that’s the third one this month.”

“Are you sure she doesn’t have super strength like Kara?”

“Yeah she’s just a really good boxer.”

Eliza has been studying the two women with a critical eye, “Is there something the two of you would like to tell me?” she questions.

Alex glances at her mother and then the woman whose arms are still curled around her own, “Umm.”

“They’ve been together for three months, they don’t want anyone to know yet because James will make a fool of himself and Lucy is scared I hate her because of who her sister is.” Cat smirks at them, “I don’t hate Lucy because of her sister, you are two very different people,” she says, addressing the last part of her statement to the woman in question.

“How do you know all that?” Alex questions staring at her friend and trying to decide the best way to recruit her, the list of reasons to recruit her keeps growing longer as the reasons not to stays the same.

“I’m observant,” is all Cat says before addressing Lucy, “Do you think you can help?”

“I’m not sure but if I can’t I will find someone who can.” She walks over to Cat, “Come talk to me and we’ll see what we can figure out.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Eliza asks when Alex returns to her spot at the counter.

Alex shrugs, “We were going to the last time you were here but then things went pear shaped and we agreed it wasn’t the best time.”

“She knew before everyone else?”

“Yeah,” Alex grins, watching Cat and Lucy talking, “I don’t keep secrets from her,” she shrugs, “I don’t feel like I have to.”

“How do you think this is all going to turn out?”

“I have no idea,” Alex says honestly, chin resting on her fist and a million thoughts trailing through her mind.

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Kara returns closer to two hours later rather than one but Cat had been appeased when Alex said Clark mentioned something about talking to her, Clark had never said such a thing and Alex was very worried when Kara’s promised appearance time came and went with no sign of her. When she flies in through the balcony doors, Cat takes her hand and pulls her down the hall, barely giving her time to grab her clothes along the way.

“Carter,” Alex says, “put your headphones in.”

“Aunt Alex -”

“Just do it, Carter, please,” she says when she hears the gym door slam. The boy nods and slips his headphones into his ears. Not two minutes later shouting reaches the three women in the room, the words indistinguishable but there nonetheless.

“Is she pissed or hurt?” Lucy finally asks, her head resting against Alex’s shoulder.

“Both,” Alex supplies, a little more in tune with Cat Grant’s inner musings than her mother. “She’s pissed that Kara wouldn’t talk to her when she was here to begin with and she’s hurt that Carter had to see whatever it is he saw and heard and that Kara won’t tell her what that is.”

“Kara’s doing it to protect her, isn’t she?”

“Yeah,” Alex says quietly, “whatever was said in that cafe today made Kara so mad she was demolishing cars in the junkyard outside of town for two hours. I would say that she was both plenty pissed and plenty hurt by whatever it was.” Carter is playing away on his PSP, fingers flying rapidly over the buttons when Alex looks over at him to see tears in his eyes. Wordlessly she reaches out and pulls him closer to her, his head landing on the opposite shoulder from Lucy as she kisses the top of his head. She doesn’t know if he can hear his mothers fighting, doesn’t want to know unless he wants her to but she knows that he needs someone to hold him up right now and that, well that she can do.

“Kara Zor-El! Get your ass back here!”

Alex can hardly blink as Kara breezes past them on the couch and back out through the balcony doors. “Kara!” Alex calls.

“Don’t, Alex,” Kara says, barely turning over her shoulder before she pushes off and into the air.

Knocking Carter off one shoulder and Lucy off of the other Alex rises from her spot on the couch, making sure that Lucy takes her spot next to Carter and makes her way down the hall. She reaches the gym to find Cat on the floor, hands fisted in her hair and forehead pressed against one of the yoga mats. “Cat,” she says quietly as she lowers herself beside the older woman and runs a hand down her back, “come on, Cat, talk to me.”

Alex lifts the smaller woman up, tucks her into the space against her side, “He told her that she could never give Carter anything, that she would never be good enough for him, never be good enough to love him. He asked her what she could possibly give Carter, what she could possibly give me that would make us want to stay with her, that would make us want to keep loving her. He belittled her, drug her through the ringer that she didn’t know existed.” She rests her head against Alex’s shoulder, “She kept it together, she kept it together through all of that. She even kept it together when he attacked me. But he went after Carter. He said that Carter was nothing but a Mama’s boy and he needed to be toughened up, to be taught what a man’s man was and that he was never going to do that living with two dykes who didn’t even enjoy a good dick fucking. He said that in front of Carter.” Alex is trying to soothe Cat, to calm her down but the woman is only becoming more agitated, “Kara, she told him that the only reason it pissed him off was because she could satisfy me better than his shrimp of a dick ever did and that Carter would be more of a man than he ever was because he knew how to treat his family. That’s when he decked her but his damage was already done. The busted lip was nothing, the busted heart is what’s gonna do her in.”

Rocking them back and forth Alex doesn’t speak, she just holds onto Cat, there’s nothing she can say to make this better. Slowly the rocking eases Cat’s troubled mind into an emotionally overloaded sleep. Alex lowers her to the floor so that she can stand and then she rises to her feet, bending down to lift Cat up into her arms and carrying her down the hall into her own room, since Eliza is sleeping in the guest room. She tucks Cat into her bed and presses a kiss to her forehead, “I’m going to make this right, sister.” She’s only ever referred to Kara as her sister, she never had those friends in school that were close enough to her to be sisters but Cat, Cat is that friend that’s close enough to her to be her sister. She stands up straight, walks to her closet and pulls out her black shirt for work, her badge and her black cargos. Making her way into the ensuite she strips her at home clothes off and slips into her work clothes, watching herself in the mirror, “Destroy him,” she tells herself in the mirror.

When she steps out of the bathroom she glances at Cat, she watches her for a moment, one day Cat will be her sister-in-law, she knows it, and she’s proud of that. She knows Cat is older than her but Cat is her baby sister’s lover and she’s going to protect her the same way she protects Kara, with everything that she has. She presses the speed dial for Hank as she leaves her bedroom, “I need you to pick up a warrant that the cops have or should have at least...should be a warrant for man that assaulted a woman in a cafe today...his name is Jonathan Farrow...yeah it does...no, I’m bringing him in...yes you can come but you are not allowed to stop me...I’m doing this...I’m taking care of my family.”

She knows Hank hears the hard edge to her voice when all he does is agree, knows he senses that something they weren’t planning on has happened. She moves towards her couch when she enters the living room after hanging up with him. Leaning over Carter she presses a kiss to his forehead, “Your mom is asleep in my room if you want to go be with her. She knows what was said today, she knows what happened.” He nods and bounces off the couch, heading down the hall to his mother. Alex turns to Lucy then, presses a quick kiss to her lips, “Finish up whatever it is you have to finish but make sure that Kara’s name is back on that custody petition.”

Lucy nods, leans up to steal another kiss and watches Alex move toward Eliza, “What are you going to do?” Eliza questions.

“It’s better you don’t know,” Alex tells her, “plausible deniability is a thing.” She presses a kiss to her mother’s cheek, “Keep an eye on Cat, she’s not in a good place right now. I don’t know when Kara will be back but she’s not gonna be in the best of moods, if she even comes back tonight.”

Eliza nods, “I’ll have something to eat waiting when you both get home.”

Alex smiles, her mother will always be in Mom mode, “Thanks, Mom.”

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Hank meets her outside of Jonathan Farrow’s small two story home, barely big enough for more than two or three bedrooms, “Cat Grant’s ex lives here?”

“Cat Grant used to live here,” Alex says simply, “this is one of the things Jonathan got in the divorce. Of course he only wanted it because Cat did and it’s paid off. Why would he care that it threw his only child out in the cold?” She shakes her head, she’s heard too many stories about Cat’s first few months after the divorce, CatCo was still new and hadn’t jumped off the ground running then, though it had been holding it’s own. Carter was eighteen months old and already had his mother wrapped around his little finger. Cat had done what she needed to do to make sure her son had been taken care of and that started with an apartment much like the one Alex lived in though smaller. “Cat always thought he’d just sell the place but he enjoys rubbing it in her face that he got the home that she built for Carter with the last of the money she used to start CatCo.”

“You really hate this man, I’ve never seen you this volatile before.”

“No one has ever gone after my family this way before. When it’s an alien breathing down Supergirl’s back I know how to handle it, kill them, arrest them or blow them up. This though,” she says carefully, “this is a man that is supposed to love and care for a boy who I call my nephew. Do you know what he did today?” Hank shakes his head, more than a little worried about the woman he’s come to care about as a daughter, “He said that his son needed to be toughened up, that he was a Mama’s boy and that he would never be a man’s man as long as he was living with two dykes.” Alex’s voice is hard and cold as she speaks of the man whose house she stands in front of, “He didn’t just disappoint his son today, he made his son hate him.”

“Cat gave him the house, didn’t she?”

Alex nods, “She did, she gave him the house because he either wanted the house or the majority custody of Carter. Cat was never going to let him have that, Carter wouldn’t have made it a year.”

“He drinks?”

“Yes.”

“He’s violent?”

“At times,” Alex says, she’s not even sure that Carter or Kara know that bit of information because Cat divulged it to her one of those nights after she’d fought with Kara and crashed on Alex’s couch. “I want to kill him,” she finally says into the silence between them. “I want to walk into that house and take him back to HQ and beat the ever loving hell out of him.” She looks over at Hank, “Can you keep me from doing that?”

Hank nods, “I can try,” he finally says, “but after what you just told me I don’t know how successful I’ll be.”

“Guess that’s all I can ask for,” Alex says with a nod then pushes herself off the side of the SUV behind her, Hank had flown, “let’s do this.” She marches up the path to the front door, rapping harshly against the wood.

Jonathan Farrow opens the door and Alex scowls at him, “Can I help you?”

“Mr. Farrow,” Alex says, “my name is Agent,” she fights to pause on her last name, “Brown, I’m with the FBI would you step outside so we can speak to you a moment.”

“Can I see a badge?” Alex flashes her FBI version badge at him and he steps out onto the porch, “What’s this about?”

Alex smiles, turns him around, “Jonathan Farrow, you are under arrest for the assault of Kara Danvers.” She goes through his Miranda Rights, listing them off without a second thought. Then she passes him into Hank’s capable hands, “This,” she pushes a search warrant at him then sticks it between his teeth, “is a search warrant for your home and any cars on the premises.” She glances at Hank, “Anybody else coming.”

“ETA five minutes, I’ll stay with him, you clear the scene.” Alex nods and makes her way into the house, gun unholstered as she clears each room of the house. She makes her way up the stairs clearing all of the rooms there until she reaches the last one. She remembers Cat saying that the last room on the second floor had been her office, a big open spaced room, bigger even than the master bedroom, that had been a place where Carter spent his afternoons playing while Cat worked on last minute things for those still new but growing issues of CatCo.

When Alex tries to open the door she finds it locked. She considers what to do next, pick the lock or just blow the lock off with a well aimed shot. Finally she decides to pick the lock, save them the trouble of explaining away a firearm discharge later. When the lock snicks into an open position she stands back up, “Alex,” she hears Henshaw say from behind her, “this the last room?”

“Yes, sir,” she says, “it was locked, just finished picking it.”

“Why not just blow it off?”

Alex shrugs, “Didn’t seem right,” she takes her gun back out and slowly turns the knob on the door. When she flips the light switch on the wall her breath catches in her throat, “Tell me I’m seeing things?”

“Afraid I can’t,” Hank says entering the room behind Alex and staring around the room. Plastered over every wall is a picture of Cat, they cover every available piece of wall space, some overlapping and criss crossing. A noise from the corner makes Alex turn and she’s moving instantly.

She kneels down by the woman curled into a ball in the corner, “You’re okay,” Alex whispers as she reaches out to the woman, placing a hand on the woman’s arm, “we’re going to get you out of here.” She glances back at Hank, “In my SUV there’s a blanket in the back seat, can you grab it for me?” Hank nods and turns to head back down to the SUV, Alex can hear him running as he hits the stairs. She reaches out and gently removes the cloth gag from the woman’s mouth, “How long have you been here?” she questions softly.

“A few months now,” she says quietly, crying silently.

Her tears grow heavier as Alex wraps an arm around her and pulls her in close after untying the cloth pieces binding the woman’s hands, “You’re going to be okay,” Alex promises. “What’s your name?”

“Catherine,” she says quietly and Alex bites back a curse.

Hank returns then, handing Alex the blanket, “There’s a forensic team here.”

Alex nods, “We’ll be down in a minute,” she tells him quietly. “Do you think you can walk?” Catherine nods, “Okay, let's get you to the hospital.”

After she’s helped the young woman into the back of the SUV Alex climbs in beside her and Hank wordlessly takes the keys from her. Catherine is quiet for most of the ride, wincing when any bumps are hit but Alex knows this is better than an ambulance, quicker too, “That woman,” Catherine finally says, “the one whose face is plastered over every surface of that room, is she okay?”

“For the most part,” Alex says carefully. “Why?”

“He wants to kill her,” the young woman says. “He wanted me to look just like her, to be just like the one he knew but he wants whoever she is now dead. He said he knew the way to do that was to take away her son.”

Alex’s jaw tightens, “She’s safe,” she says, “that woman is safe and her son is safe.”

“Who was she?” Catherine asks a while later. “I know her but I couldn’t place from where I know her from.”

A glance in the mirror and a nod from Hank has Alex giving the woman the bare minimum of information, “Her name is Cat Grant.”

“She’s his ex wife?”

“Yes,” Alex says shortly, simple answers are always better.

“Who’s the boy?”

“His son.”

“Bastard,” Catherine spits and then curls further into herself. When they reach the hospital a nurse comes out to help them get her inside then directs them to the waiting room to wait for news.

“I need to get my hands on him,” Alex says quietly when the two of them are seated in a far corner of the room, heads bent, Alex’s elbows resting on her knees. “He has to pay for what he’s done to Cat, to Kara, to Carter, and to that girl in there.”

“And he will, Alex, I promise you he will.”

The doctor in charge of Catherine’s care steps out and motions them back where he can speak with them, “She’s been severely abused over several months, bone breaks, sexual abuse, contusions. I’ve run a battery of tests and we’re going to keep her overnight for observation. She’s in shock right now.”

“Can we ask her some questions before we leave?”

The man nods, “You may,” he motions them toward her room, “she’s been given a mild sedative so she’ll be out shortly.”

“Thank you,” Alex tells him quietly.

She knocks quietly on the door and hears a soft, “Come in,” from the other side.

Inside Alex stands off to the side as Hank asks the young woman questions. While Hank is questioning her Alex is taking in every detail of her. She’s the same height as Cat or close to it. She has the same blonde hair, styled the same way, though she suspects the style is Farrow’s doing. Her eyes are a very close shade of green. If Alex didn’t know better she’d swear this woman was Cat’s sister.

“Thank you for your time,” Alex hears Hank say and she returns to the hospital room they’re in. “We’ll be in touch,” he says quietly.

Outside the room he turns to Alex and raises an eyebrow, “Farrow was trying to recreate the wife he used to have, the life he used to have. She was the Cat he married years ago, all he needed was Carter to complete the perfect little family.”

If Alex is anything it’s an excellent profiler and Hank nods, “I thought so too.”

Alex tilts her head, “There anyway we can keep Farrow locked in one of our cells instead of Federal prison.”

Hank smirks back, “It is possible it could be arranged.”

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Alex makes it back to her apartment somewhere around four in the morning to find Lucy passed out on her couch and  Kara sitting on the balcony rail outside. She walks over to the couch, pulls the blanket from the back of it and places it over Lucy’s sleeping form, pressing a kiss to her forehead as well. Then she moves out onto the balcony, standing at her sister’s side, arms crossed on the balcony rail. Silence surrounds them, each balancing precariously in their own thoughts, each thought balancing precariously on the tip of a tongue.

“You shouldn’t have left,” Alex finally says, “you shouldn’t have left her sobbing in a mess on the floor, Kara.”

“I know,” Kara says, her voice rough from both disuse and sobbing. “I was just so,” she shakes her head, “so not me, so not in the right mindset and I couldn’t think. I couldn’t even breathe, Alex. I still can’t. He hates his son, Alex.”

“He hates the person he feels like Cat has become,” Alex says quietly, “and he blames Carter for part of that. He’s also a sick, perverted son of a bitch who may never see the light of day again.”

Kara’s head snaps around, unused to her sister cursing in such a way, “Alex, what the hell happened?”

“I went after him,” Alex says quietly. “When you left I was the one who went to Cat, I was the one who listened to every word he said to you and I was the one who saw red when I put Cat into my bed because she cried herself to sleep.” She looks out over the city, “I was going to arrest him, had Hank pick up the arrest warrant, and maybe toss him around a bit, a lot, I was gonna toss him around a lot. There was a search warrant too, not sure why or how Hank got it but it was there. Inside the house,” Alex closes her eyes, “there was a woman inside the house, in a locked room, bound and gagged. The walls of the room were plastered with pictures of Cat, there wasn’t an inch of wall visible.” She looks over at her sister, “He was trying to turn her into Cat, but the Cat he married years ago.”

“Where is he?” Kara demands to know.

“DEO headquarters, we have the right to imprison a suspect without trial, we’ll just claim he’s an alien.”

“Is that what you're going to do?” Kara questions.

“Definitely, for a while at the very least,” she smirks, “it wouldn't do for a prisoner to show up with the injuries that he has.”

Kara studies her sister carefully, “What did you do?”

Alex looks back out over her little corner of the city, closes her eyes, “I protected my family, Kara, I did what I do best.”

“Alex -”

“Don’t, Kara,” Alex says uncrossing her arms and moving back into her apartment, moving to the couch where Lucy is still sleeping soundly. She lifts the woman up, as if she’s done it a hundred times and settles onto the couch.

“You’re finally home,” Lucy mutters.

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” Alex tells her, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Go back to sleep.” Lucy nestles herself against Alex, hides her face in the crook of Alex’s neck. “Lucy,” Alex says quietly, “Lucy, I love you,” she says quietly.

Lucy looks up at Alex, “Don’t say that if you don’t mean it, Alex.”

Alex smiles, “I never would. I do love you, Lucy.”

“I love you too,” Lucy whispers back, snuggling closer to Alex. She presses a kiss to Alex’s neck, “Now sleep, you’ve been gone a long while.”

“It’s four in the morning.”

“I took tomorrow off,” Lucy says quietly, “now sleep.”

Finally Alex tucks her chin down against the top of Lucy’s head, pressing a kiss to her soft curls. Alex closes her eyes, trailing her fingers carefully up and down Lucy’s back, letting the motion sooth her. She knows that tomorrow she’ll have to go down to DEO headquarters and deal with Hank. Hank may have kept her from killing Farrow but the son of bitch ended up with a broken arm and a concussion by the time she was done with him. Those were just a few of the asshole’s injuries but they were the ones that would be the hardest to explain, particularly the broken arm.

Kara slips through the door into the apartment and looks down at her sister with Lucy Lane stretched out on top of her. Lucy has already drifted back off to sleep and Kara’s sure Alex isn’t far behind her by the way her movements against Lucy’s back are slowing down. Kara shakes her head and quietly moves down the hallway toward Alex’s bedroom. She pushes the door open quietly and stares silently at Cat and Carter. Love swells in her heart at the sight of her lover and their child. All she wants in that moment is to move to the bed and take them both into her arms, to hold onto them for the rest of her life and never let them go.

“Come to bed,” Cat’s sleepy voice says from the bed. She wants nothing more than to follow the command but she knows she doesn’t deserve to be there with them, to hold her family close the way she wants to, she doesn’t deserve them. “Kara, come to bed. We can talk in the morning.”

Slowly Kara walks towards the bed, slipping into the empty spot behind her lover, she doesn’t reach out for Cat simply stays on the edge of the bed. Cat reaches behind her, taking her hand and pulling her arm across her waist. “Cat, no. I’m sorry for everything I did, my love. I’m sorry for everything that I said. Oh god, I’m so sorry, Cat.”

Cat turns over leaving Carter curled into a ball against her back, “You are never allowed to do that to me again. I can’t,” Cat shakes her head, “I need you, Kara, I need you. And today, today you left me, you just left me.”

“I’ll never do it again,” Kara swears, “I’m never going to leave you again, Cat. I was,” she closes her eyes, “I wasn’t thinking. All I could think was that he was right, I have nothing,” she says, “I have absolutely nothing to give you and Carter. Why would either of you ever want me? How could you possibly continue to love me when I have nothing for you?”

Reaching up Cat brushes a few strands of hair away from Kara’s face, “Oh my beautiful Kara,” she whispers. She really doesn’t want to give into Kara’s words, doesn’t want to forgive the woman so easily. Except she does, she knows how much she’s been relying on Kara. She knows that Kara hasn’t really been able to break the way that she’s allowed Cat to whenever she needs it. The truth is she wasn’t surprised when Kara flew out of the window after divulging everything that Jonathan had thrown at her that morning because Kara deserved to break.

“You give Carter and I everything, Kara. You give us every part of you and what more could we ask for. From the moment you came into our lives, first as my assistant, then as my friend and finally as the woman I love you have given us everything that you possibly could. You’ve even given us Supergirl. But most of all, Kara, you gave us love, you gave us all the love that you have in your heart. And that heart is so big, Kara, it holds so much love that sometimes I feel like I’ll collapse under the weight of it. If anyone should be worried about what they bring to this relationship it should be me. I don’t know how to love very well, I never have.” Kara starts to interrupt but Cat presses a finger to Kara’s lips, “I understand why you left, Kara, even though I wish that you had trusted me to be there when you needed me.”

“That wasn’t it, Cat,” Kara says quietly, “I trust you implicitly.”

“Then why?”

“Because I never want you to see me break, my love, I never want you to see me as the weak person that I was today.” Cat glances over her shoulder, “He’s still sleeping,” Kara says quietly, “his breathing is still steady and even, he can’t ever hide when he’s faking sleep.” She reaches up, toying with a blonde curl at Cat’s temple, “I’m your Supergirl, Cat, you should never ever see me as weak, as broken. Today I was both.”

“Oh, my Kara,” Cat whispers, “you can always be weak around me, can always fall apart with me. You have seen me at my worst, Kara, you have seen me break apart at the thought of losing Carter and seen me fall to the ground when Dirk tried to take CatCo from me. You’ve protected me and saved me. You’ve watched me fall and watched me flounder. Every time that I’ve fallen you’ve been there to pull me back to my feet.” Cat traces a finger across the apple of Kara’s cheek, “You couldn’t trust me to do the same?”

“It has never been a matter of trust, Cat,” Kara sighs, resting her forehead against Cat’s. “How can you trust me to help you when you need me if I can’t even to keep it together because some asshole said some not so nice words to me? Someone is trying to take your son, Cat, I’m supposed to be here for you. You need me to be strong so that you can break and I love that you trust me that much. But how can you trust me to be strong when I fall apart because of some mean words.”

“He’s your son too, Kara, you’ve said that a hundred times to anyone willing to listen. You’re at risk of losing him too. I’m not alone in this fight and I don’t want to be. I want you to be able to break down in front of me. I want you to trust that you can be weak in front of me and I’m still going to see you as strong. Do you see me as strong even though you’ve seen me fall apart? I’ve spent hours wrapped in your arms as I’ve cried and screamed and raged over the things Jonathan has said and done. Does any of that change the way that you see me?”

“Of course not,” Kara says instantly, finally reaching out and pulling Cat more firmly into her embrace, their bodies melding together in a way she has only ever experienced with Cat. “You are the strongest person I have ever met in my life, Cat. Nothing could ever change the way that I see you. I love you, Cat, no matter how many times you fall apart in my arms. No matter how many times you need me to hold you while you cry I will always love you.” She runs her hands over Cat’s back, presses a kiss to her forehead, “It’s not the same with me, Cat. I’m a superhero, I save the world on a daily basis. If I can’t handle this how can you trust me to handle things when you need me the most.”

Cat traces Kara’s cheek, “This isn’t some mission that Supergirl can fix with super strength or flight. We are facing the possibility of losing our son, Kara, and as much as we say that won’t happen we both fear that it will no matter what we do.” Kara leans forward, hiding her face in the crook of Cat’s neck and sobs, “Beating up a thousand cars, Kara, won’t make the pain and fear and hurt disappear. The only thing that does is release the anger you have over the situation.” Kara breaks apart in Cat’s arms then, sobs racking through her body and tears soaking into the top Cat’s wearing.

“I’m so scared,” Kara cries, she’s not used to this. She’s bulletproof, she can stand up to anything, fight anyone but she can’t handle one tiny man who wants to take Carter away from her and Cat. “I can hold myself together so well most of the time but then there are days, days like today when I’m faced with what’s really happening and all I want is to crumble.”

Kara snuggles closer to Cat, resting easily against her, “When you feel like you need to crumble you come to me. Whether it’s two in the afternoon and we’re at work or two in the morning and I’m pressed into your chest sleeping peacefully in your arms. You pull me close, you let me hold you and you let yourself cry.” She runs her hands gently through Kara’s hair, “Just because your skin is bulletproof does not mean you are unbreakable and that’s okay, that’s what being human is about. At the end of the day, Kara, your DNA may be Kryptonian but you are unbelievably human.” She smiles, “That’s why I love you so.”

It’s that moment when Carter’s breathing changes behind Cat and the bed shifts, “Mom,” he says sleepily, “is Ma home?”

Cat smiles, “She’s home, Carter, she’s right here beside me.”

Without a word Carter scrambles over his mother, who moves back on instinct, allowing room for him between her and Kara, “Ma,” he says simply and burrows into Kara’s arms. He rests his head over her heart and listens to the steady beat under his ear. “Are you okay, Ma?”

Kara buries her nose in Carter’s dark curly hair, one hand resting against the back of his head and the other arm cradling him close. “I’m okay, Carter,” she says, voice still raspy with unshed tears, “we’re all going to be okay.”

“I love you, Ma,” Carter says voice already fading back into sleep. When she’s tuned her ears to the even breathing of the boy in her arms once more Kara feels her tears begin to fall again, dropping against his hair.

“I love you too, Carter,” she whispers, pressing a kiss to the top of his head while she watches Cat.

Cat reaches out, arm falling over her son and her lover, “Go to sleep, Supergirl, it’s already tomorrow and you’ve yet to be to bed.”

Kara smiles sleepily at her lover, “I love you, Cat.”

“I love you too, Kara,” Cat tells her quietly while watching her lover succumb to sleep.

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When morning comes Kara wakes with Carter still curled against her front though he’s awake and fiddling idly with the PSP in his hands, “Hey, bud,” she whispers quietly, surprised by the raspy quality of her voice.

Carter turns over in her arms, PSP forgotten on the bed while he studies her, “You left,” he says simply and Kara feels her heart break, she hadn’t just left Cat the day before.

“I’m sorry, Carter,” she says, pulling him in closer, “I know it doesn’t make up for anything but I am sorry. I was scared, Carter, I was so scared I was going to lose you and when Jonathan said all those things yesterday it just made that fear bubble over. I never should have left though, I never should have tried to run from my fear, I should have faced it with you and with your Mom.”

“We’re gonna be okay though, right Ma?”

Kara smiles at him, “Yeah, bud, we are. Aunt Alex made sure of it.”

Carter rests his head back on her chest for a moment, listening to her heartbeat, “I’m hungry,” he says after a few long moments.

Laughter spills past her lips and she tickles him slightly, “Well, hungry, let’s go get some food in you, huh?”

The boy shuffles out of bed and Kara rolls onto her side and out right behind him, “Hey, Ma,” Kara looks up at him questioningly, “are you and Mom okay?”

Pushing hair away from Carter’s face Kara tries to smile, “I hope so, Carter.”

He nods, “Me too.”

He heads out of the room and down the hall. When she steps out into the hallway she hears laughter coming from the kitchen and she follows the sound, coming close to dragging her feet across the floor. When she reaches the kitchen she finds Alex sitting at the kitchen table with Lucy in her lap, safely cocooned in her arms. Eliza is standing by the sink finishing cleaning up the breakfast dishes and Cat is seated across from Alex and Lucy, a pinched looking smile on her lips. Carter slides into the chair beside his mother and Cat reaches out to him, pushing hair away from his face. Kara shuffles over to the table, about to fall into a chair next to Cat when the older woman grabs her hand, pulls her toward her and down into her lap. It’s not as awkward of a position as it should be considering Kara’s taller form.

Cat’s arms are resting loosely around Kara’s waist and Kara looks up to find everyone watching them, “We talked last night,” Cat says simply and slowly everyone returns to their own discussions. Kara starts to suggest them switching positions but Cat presses her lips to Kara’s ear, “This is me holding you,” she tells her firmly, “I can hold you just as you can hold me, Kara, whenever you need it.”

At Cat’s words it takes all of Kara’s power not to let a single tear spill down her cheeks. Being weak in front of Cat or Carter is one  thing but she refuses to be weak in front of the rest of her family. Eliza moves over to the table then, placing a plate of pancakes in front of both Carter and Kara, tilting her daughter’s chin up, “Next time,” she says and Kara knows exactly what she means, “you will have me to deal with.”

Kara nods and slides off of Cat’s lap into the chair beside her, tangling their fingers together under the table, “I have to go talk to Hank today,” Alex says from the other side of the table. Kara’s eyes snap up to her, “He wants to talk to me about yesterday.”

“How much trouble are you in?” Cat questions having talked to Alex earlier about the situation.

“Hmmm, I’m not sure,” Alex tells the other woman honestly. “Hank agrees with what I did. It’s the people above Hank I’ve got to worry about.”

“What did you do?” Carter asks and Kara is at least thankful that no one has yet told him that his father was arrested the day before. She should be there when he’s told.

Alex considers her words carefully, “I used a little bit of excessive force on a suspect.”

Carter nods, “If he was bad enough for you to use excessive force on him then there shouldn’t be a problem. You wouldn’t have done it if it didn’t need to be done, Aunt Alex.”

Kara watches her sister observe Carter and she knows that Carter knows exactly who the person is Alex used excessive force on. She sees Lucy’s fingers brushing lightly along the nape of Alex’s neck, soothing the anxiousness that Kara sees rolling of of Alex. “I’ll go with you,” Kara says.

“You shouldn’t -”

Shaking her head Kara silences Alex, “I should, you may need me.”

Finally Alex nods, “Okay.”

“So what are we doing today?” Eliza questions looking from Lucy to Cat to Carter, “I’m certainly not sitting around waiting for these two to come home.”

Cat laughs, “We could always go shopping.”

“Blah, as long as I can hang out in the arcade during this shopping excursion,” Carter says with a groan. “Mom only likes the clothing stores and all those stores with the smelly things.”

“Just don’t follow them into the Victoria’s Secret, kid,” Alex says causing Lucy to smack her arm.

Carter blushes bright red and Kara shakes her head, “You’re horrible, Alex.”

Alex laughs, “I know. You should hurry up, I promised Hank I’d be there by ten. We’re going to have to fly as it is now.”

Kara tilts her head, so Alex had been waiting for her to get up, she’d never intended to go without Kara to begin with. “I’m ready,” Kara says. “I need to stop by the penthouse and pick up clothes on the way back.”

“Why don’t we just all meet there around one?” Cat questions, “Carter needs clothes and I would really prefer my own clothes as much as I like Alex’s she’s much too tall.”

“In other words you’re tripping over her pants,” Kara says leaning down to kiss Cat. The older woman glares at her, “We’ll meet you there at one,” she promises before stealing another kiss and moving to kiss the top of Carter’s head and Eliza’s cheek. She steps out onto the balcony and wraps her arms around Alex’s waist before rising into the air with her and zooming towards DEO headquarters.

“Land in the desert field,” Alex says halfway there, “I think you and I need to talk.”

“Yeah,” Kara says, “I guess we do.” Kara drops to the ground and carefully lowers Alex to the ground, allowing her sister to step away from her embrace before she crosses her arms, waiting for whatever it is Alex has to say.

“I gave you the light version last night,” Alex says carefully, “you aren’t getting away so easily today.” Kara hangs her head, she knows that she messed up the day before, there is no question of that fact in her mind. “You haven’t been trusting her, Kara,” Alex says, her voice quiet instead of the reprimanding, firm tone Kara was expecting. “I know how hard it is for you to let others see you being weak, Kara, I know that because I’m one of the few people you allow to see you that way.” Alex reaches out for Kara then, gently uncrossing her sister’s arms, “You love Cat, Kara, you love her and you know that she’s not going to hurt you. She would never intentionally hurt you and if she ever unintentionally hurt you it would be as if she’d hurt Carter.” Framing Kara’s face with her hands Alex rests their foreheads together, “You are my baby sister, Kara, I am always going to be here to protect you. I am also always going to be here to give you a kick in the pants when you need it. Right now that is exactly what you need. You haven’t been trusting her to be there for you. You haven’t been trusting any of us.”

Kara sighs, tucks herself into her sister’s embrace, “I haven’t wanted to disappoint any of you.”

“You could never disappoint us, Kara,” Alex says, pressing a kiss to the crown of her sister’s head. “We have all been just as scared as you have, alien girl,” Alex says quietly, the childhood nickname slipping easily from her lips. “You and Cat could lose your son, I could lose my nephew,” Kara looks away from Alex but the older Danvers turns her sister’s head back so that their eyes meet, “and Mom, Kara, Mom could lose the boy she’s accepted as her grandson, her first grandchild. Did you really think that all of us weren’t terrified of what was coming?”

“I screwed up,” Kara says, “I know that now. I’m not going to screw up again.”

Alex nods, “I know you aren’t,” she growls, “because if you screw up again I promise that you won’t be standing here listening to me talk and you won’t be crawling into bed beside Cat after you leave her crying again. The next time you do that I will be taking you ass into a Kryptonite ring and I will show you exactly how good my combat skills have become.” She meets Kara’s eyes, “Are we understood?”

Kara nods slowly, “Yeah, Alex, yeah, I understand.”

“Good, now let’s go, we have a meeting with Hank.”

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“Mom!” Carter calls, racing across the sidewalk towards the Louvre.

Cat smiles at him, chuckling when Kara appears behind him, followed closely by Alex, “Where have the three of you been?”

“There’s outdoor market just down there,” Kara says, wrapping her arms around Cat when Carter steps back from his mother. “We found some very nice artwork.”

Grinning Cat tilts her head back, meeting Kara’s lips in a short kiss, “Your mother, Lucy and I found some very nice things in the shops too,” Cat says giving Kara a look that sends an undetectable shiver down the younger woman’s spine. “Are the three of you ready for the Louvre now?”

“Definitely,” Kara says, steering them all towards the museum, arm still wrapped around Cat. “And then the Eiffel Tower, right?” she questions with a wide grin.

Cat looks around her, smiling at the sight of her son tucked into Eliza’s side and Alex and Lucy walking arm in arm. She looks up at Kara then, “Yes, my love, and then the Eiffel Tower.”

Kara drops a kiss on the top of Cat’s head, “Thank you for bringing us here, Cat,” she says quietly.

“I thought we deserved it,” Cat tells her, “I thought you deserved it after everything you did to make sure I didn’t lose Carter.”

“We didn’t lose Carter,” Kara says. “None of us lost him,” she watches their son bounce ahead with Eliza, “He’s our son, Cat, I’d do anything to protect him.”

Cat smiles, “I know you would,” she says, head dropping to rest against Kara’s shoulder as she slips a hand into her pocket and fingers the small ring box there. “I know you would, Kara.” She leans up then, pressing a kiss to Kara’s lips, “Come on, our family is waiting. And I believe that we have plans later.”

“Indeed we do,” Kara says, fingers brushing lightly over the chain hidden beneath her shirt, an engagement ring resting against her chest, waiting only for the chance to place it on Cat’s finger. “Let’s go find our family.”

Ahead of them they fail to see Eliza lean over to Alex where they’re waiting for them and mutter, “Fake dating, yeah, that was never even a little true.”


End file.
